Serbs let off

last updated 8 January 2015

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Serbia was not guilty of genocide in Bosnia during the Yugoslav wars, the International Court of Justice ruled this week. But the Hague-based court did rule that genocide had occurred and held Serbia responsible for “failing to prevent” the killing, rape, and ethnic cleansing spree of the Bosnian Serbs it funded and armed. Bosnians were bitter about the ruling. Commentators compared the verdict to the U.N.’s failed attempt to be evenhanded during the war by imposing an arms embargo on all sides—a measure that hurt only the Bosnian Muslims and Croats, not the heavily armed Bosnian Serbs. During the 1992–95 Bosnian civil war, Bosnian Serbs backed by Serbia killed at least 75,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats and drove tens of thousands from their homes.