Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro) - Conclusion of the public hearings on the merits - Court read

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF WSTICE

Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. Tel: +31 (0)70 302 23 23. Cables: Intercourt,
The Hague. Fax: +31 (0)70 364 99 28. Telex: 32323. E-mail address:
[email protected]. Internet address: http://www.icj-cij.org.

Press Release
Unofficial

No. 2006/18
9 May 2006

Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

(Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro)

Conclusion of the public hearings on the merits

Court ready to begin its deliberation

THE HAGUE, 9 May 2006. The public hearings on the merits in the case concerning the
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro) were concluded today. The Court will now

start its deliberation.

At the hearings, which opened on 27 February 2006 at the Peace Palace, seat of the Court,
the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was led by Mr. Sakib Softié,as Agent. The delegation
of Serbia and Montenegro was led by Mr. Radoslav Stojanovié,as Agent.

The Court's Judgment will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be
announced in due course.

Final submissions of the Parties

On Monday 24 April 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina presented the following final

subruissions:

"Bosnia and Herzegovina requests the International Court of Justice to adjudge and declare:

1. That Serbia and Montenegro, through its organs or entities under its control, has violated
its obligations under the Convention on therevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

by intentionally destroying in part the non-Serb national, ethnical or religious group within, but not
limited to, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including in particular the Muslim population,
by

killing members of the group;

causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

deliberately inflicting on the group conditions !ife calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part; -2-

imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

forcibly transferring children of the group to another group;

2. Subsidiarily:

(i) that Serbia and Montenegro has violated its obligations under the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by complicity in genocide as
defined in paragraph 1, above; and/or

(ii) that Serbia and Montenegro has violated its obligations under the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by aiding and abetting individuals,
groups and entities engaged in acts of genocide, as defined in paragraph 1 above;

3. That Serbia and Montenegro has violated its obligations under the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by conspiring to commit genocide and by
inciting to commit genocide, as defined in paragraph 1 above;

4. That Serbia and Montenegro has violated its obligations under the Convention on the

Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide for having failed to prevent genocide;

5. That Serbia and Montenegro has violated and is violating its obligations under the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide for having failed and for

failing to punish acts of genocide or any other act prohibited by the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and for having failed and for failing to transfer
individuals accused of genocide or any other act prohibited by the Convention to the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and to fully co-operate with this Tribunal;

6. That the violations of international law set out in submissions 1 to 5 constitute wrongful
acts attributable to Serbia and Montenegro which entai! its international responsibility, and,
accordingly,

ill that Serbia and Montenegro shall immediately take effective steps to ensure full compliance
with its obligation to punish acts of genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide or any other act prohibited by the Convention and to
transfer individuals accused of genocide or any other act prohibited by the Convention to the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and to fully co-operate with this
Tribunal;

fhl that Serbia and Montenegro must redress the consequences of its international wrongful acts

and, as a result of the international responsibility incurred for the above violations of the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, must pay, and Bosnia
and Herzegovina is entitled to receive, in its own right and as pareos patriae for its citizens, full
compensation for the damages and lasses caused. That, in particular, the compensation shall

cover any financially assessable damage which corresponds to:

(i) damage caused to natural persans by the acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention,
including non-material damage suffered by the victims or the surviving heirs or successors

and their dependants;

(ii) material damage caused to properties of natural or legal persans, public or private, by the
acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention; - 3 -

(iii) material damage suffered by Bosnia and Herzegovina in respect of expenditures

reasonably incurred to remedy or mitigate damage flowing from the acts enumerated in
Article IIIof the Convention;

f.f2that the nature, form and amount of the compensation shall be determined by the Court, failing

agreement thereon between the Parties one year after the Judgment of the Court, and that the
Court shall reserve the subsequent procedure for that purpose;

@ that Serbia and Montenegro shall provide specifie guarantees and assurances that it will not

repeat the wrongful acts complained of, the form of which guarantees and assurances is to be
determined by the Court;

7. That in failing to comply with the Orders for indication of provisional measures rendered

by the Court on 8 April 1993 and 13 September 1993 Serbia and Montenegro has been in breach of
its international obligations and is under an obligation to Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide for the
latter violation symbolic compensation, the amount of which is to be determined by the Court."

On Tuesday 9 May 2006, Serbia and Montenegro presented the following final submissions:

"In accordance with Article 60, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court, Serbia and Montenegro
asks the Court to adjudge and declare:

that this Court has no jurisdiction because the Respondent had no access to the Court at the
relevant moment; or, in the alternative

that this Court has no jurisdiction over the Respondent because the Respondent never remained
or became bound by Article IX of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide, and because there is no other ground on which jurisdiction over the
Respondent could be based;

In case the Court determines that jurisdiction exists Serbia and Montenegro asks the Court to
adjudge and declare:

That the requests in paragraphs 1 to 6 of the Submissions of Bosnia and Herzegovina relating
to alleged violations of the obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide be rejected as lacking a basis either in law or in fact.

In any event, that the acts and/or omissions for which the respondent State is alleged to be
responsible are not attributable to the respondent State. Such attribution would necessarily
involve breaches of the law applicable in these proceedings.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, that the relief available to the applicant State in these
proceedings, in accordance with the appropriate interpretation of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, is limited to the rendering of a

declaratory judgment.

Further, without prejudice to the foregoing, that any question of legal responsibility for alleged
breaches of the Orders for the indication of provisional measures, rendered by the Court on

8 April 1993 and 13 September 1993, does not fall within the competence of the Court to
provide appropriate remedies to an applicant State in the context of contentious proceedings,
and, accordingly, the request in paragraph 7 of the Submissions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
should be rejected." -4-

History of the proceedings and full transcripts of the hearings

The history of the proceedings as weil as the full transcripts of the hearings held between
27 February and 9 May 2006 can be found on the Court's website at the following address:

www.icj-cij.org. Click on "Docket" and thenon the hyperlink bearing the name of the case.

Information Department:

Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Head of Department (+ 31 70 302 23 36)

Messrs. Boris Heim and Maxime Schouppe, Information Officers ( + 31 70 302 23 37)
E-mail address: information @icj-cij.org