THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW PRESIDENT TIHIC HANDLED THE BOSNIAN LAWSUIT FOR GENOCIDE

National Congress of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina ONLINE NEWSLETTER - International issue No. 448 http://republic-bosnia-herzegovina.com/ ──────────── 1. THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES: TIHIC AND SOFTIC PERPETRATED A DELIBERATE ACT OF TREASON BY REMOVING REQUEST FOR RESTITUTION-RESTORING THE SITUATION TO WHAT IT WAS BEFORE AGGRESSION AND GENOCIDE FROM THE LAWSUIT AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 2. THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW PRESIDENT TIHIC HANDLED THE BOSNIAN LAWSUIT FOR GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBIA 3. TILMAN ZULCH: WHATEVER THE COURT DECIDES ON MONDAY, IT WAS AGGRESSION, IT WAS GENOCIDE ──────────── 1. THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES: TIHIC AND SOFTIC PERPETRATED A DELIBERATE ACT OF TREASON BY REMOVING REQUEST FOR RESTITUTION-RESTORING THE SITUATION TO WHAT IT WAS BEFORE AGGRESSION AND GENOCIDE FROM THE LAWSUIT AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO By: Vahid Sendijarevic Ph.D. Prof. Boyle stated in our latest correspondence that what he had in the original lawsuit of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro for aggression and genocide at the International Court of Justice “It was a request for Restitution-restoring the situation to what it was before the aggression and genocide.” He also added: “The lawsuit never requested dismantling RS per se. It requested Restitution, which meant dismantling RS. Hence the campaign I started in July 2005 at my press conference in the Sarajevo airport with you there to dismantle RS at the World Court. We could have done it through Restitution, which was still in the lawsuit. But then last year during the Hearings Tihic and Softic sent the French lawyer in there to tell the Court that Bosnia was no longer requesting Restitution…This was a deliberate act of treason and sabotage by Tihic and Softic. Remember SDA was in a coalition government with SDS, SNSD and PDP. So of course Tihic and Softic made sure that the lawsuit could not threaten RS, which they did.” Prof. Boyle anticipated that under pressure of genocide and aggression, Bosnian government might carve in and sign a peace agreement on expense of the constitution, borders, and sovereignty of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. So the fact that in the original lawsuit in 1993 he requested for Restitution-restoring the situation which was before the aggression and genocide, he de facto requested that the borders and constitution of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina can not be changed as a result of aggression and genocide, and that any new constitutional arrangement and formation of any new entity as a result of the aggression and genocide have to be dismantled, including Republic Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as constitutional arrangement under the Dayton Agreement. “Restitution had been in there right from the very beginning until near the end. It was extremely unusual, abnormal, for Restitution to have been withdrawn. Restitution is a normal remedy to request under these circumstances. This was sabotage by Tihic and Softic”, claims Prof. Boyle. The fundamentals of the international law are that the borders and constitution of one nation (country) can not be changed as a result of aggression, and even less as a result of genocide, and if they were, the fundamentals are to request restitution of the situation (restitution of the constitution and borders) to what it was before aggression and genocide. “I do not know of any other case in the World Court where Restitution was eliminated before the end of the proceedings. It is blackletter international law that you always request Restitution…As it stands now, the new Bosnian government can use a favorable Judgment to go after RS…in the next set of hearings on damages”, said Prof. Boyle. When asked about the question of RS in the lawsuit, Muhamed Sacirbey confirmed that “The original lawsuit identified the RS as a product of genocide…The request to abolish the RS or any further remedies will have to be made by the Agent once a decision is reached. If BiH wins, we then can demand the abolish of the RS as a product of Belgrade's genocidal actions”. Muhamed Sacirbay also confirmed that no change was made in the lawsuit at the time the last year (2005) when he assisted the Agent in some matters. The following is Prof. Boyle's statement given on February 22, 2007 for Bosnian media regarding the lawsuit. ──────────── 2. THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW PRESIDENT TIHIC HANDLED THE BOSNIAN LAWSUIT FOR GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBIA I read that Mr Tihic denied my comments on TV. So you have my permission to broadcast this response to him if you wish. The remedy of Restitution had always been in the World Court lawsuit from near the very beginning: in other words, to restore the situation in BIH to what it was before the beginning of the war and genocide in March of 1992, which would have required the elimination of Republika Srpska (RS). Toward that end I traveled to Bosnia in July 2005 to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre and to launch a Campaign to eliminate RS at the World Court by this means. Mr. Softic sat at two public lectures in Sarajevo where I explained to him precisely how this could be done. I also communicated this same advice to Mr. Tihic through SDA sources. I continued to forward this same advice to Mr. Tihic repeatedly through SDA sources for the next several months. Despite my best efforts, as the World Court hearing came to an end, Tihic and Softic instructed one of Bosnia's lawyers to tell the World Court that Bosnia was no longer asking for the remedy of Restitution, which would have required the elimination of RS. At the time Tihic and SDA were in a coalition government with SDS, SNSD and PDP. So of course Tihic had no interest in attacking his coalition partners. For Tihic and Softic to have requested the elimination of RS at the World Court could have resulted in the collapse of their coalition government among SDA, SDS, SNSD and PDP. So they deliberately sabotaged any possibility of calling upon the World Court to order Restitution on behalf of Bosnia against Serbia and Montenegro, which would have meant the elimination of RS. This strategy was also consistent with the support given by Tihic and SDA to the so-called Hays Reforms, which would have solidified Republika Srpska forever. Once again, since Tihic and SDA were in coalition with SDS, SNSD and PDP, Tihic fully supported the Hays Reforms that would have consolidated RS forever and also sabotaged the remedy of Restitution for Bosnia at the World Court, which would have required the elimination of RS. At the request of SDA, I had also advised Mr. Tihic to reject the Hays Reforms. So when he rejected my advice, I also launched a campaign to defeat the Hays Reforms and was joined by my colleague and friend from the war/genocide Haris Silajdzic to defeat the Hays Reforms. I am very gratified that Haris and SBIH and the Patriotic Front and I were able to defeat the Hays Reforms, which would have been a disaster for Bosnia. But I am very sorry to report that despite my best efforts to the contrary, Tihic and Softic would not permit me to dismantle RS at the World Court. Professor Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (Voice) 217-244-1478 (Fax) (personal comments only) ──────────── 3. TILMAN ZULCH: WHATEVER THE COURT DECIDES ON MONDAY, IT WAS AGGRESSION, IT WAS GENOCIDE By: Ibrahim Halilovic The Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV) will organize demonstrations at the door steps of the International Court of justice in The Hague on the next Monday, February 26, 2007, at the time of the court ruling on the lawsuit of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro for the aggression and genocide. Question: What is the goal of the protest, this protest can not have any affect on the Court decision? Zulch: Whatever the court decides on Monday, the very facts remain as they are: the ruling war-time regime of Serbia-Montenegro organized aggression against its peaceful neighbor-country Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was Genocide, it was Aggression by mass-murder, mass-evictions, mass rape, deliberate, carpet bombing of towns, especially of Bosnia’s Capital Sarajevo, by Deportations of mostly men into concentration-camps, and women into rape-camps and by causing starvation of parts of the population, and hindering the transport of sufficient relief. Our message in Den Haag will be just that and this is enough for the world and enough for Europe which failed to save [Bosniaks] an indigenous European people of Moslem faith and all those Serbian, Croatian, Jewish and Roma Bosnians, who suffered with them in the heart of Europe Question: Who will take part in this protest? Zulch: Victims and refugees from Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Berlin, Gattingen, Holland and Belgium. Question: It could be read in Bosnian papers that Mrs. Fadila Memisevic criticized the Bosnian Government regarding its idling and doing nothing regarding lobbying about the lawsuit. What is Mrs. Memisevic’s role in this protest on Monday? Is she going to stay in Sarajevo and protest there? Isn’t Sarajevo also the right place for the protest, or will she be in The Hague? Zulch: If Fadila Memisevic criticized some Bosnian Politicians for betraying this initiative at the court, she was probably, as far as I know, right. She campaigned for Bosnia and documented crimes for the respected Zenica Center to document the war crimes in 1992 and with the Society for threatened peoples since then. She was honored with the Swiss human rights price. Since 1993 the International Media published about her research on war crimes. She will be in Den Haag, the right place to be for human rights activists on Monday. Whatever the court decides, we will be there in front of its doors and remind the international public of the genocide. Question: I think that the right address to protest against is Sulejman Tihic. Tihic was the only person that could decide about lawsuit destiny, its concept, etc. Tihic did everything to make worthless this lawsuit. He fired Prof. Boyle fearing that he could win this trail. Tihic decided that the lawsuit has only one request to sentence Serbia and Montenegro for genocide, but did not request dismantling of RS. What is your comment? Zulch: Let me as a foreigner, knowing Bosnia and Sarajevo since 1958 as somebody, who up to today can not understand that this bloodbath could happen against the Bosniaks and those who stayed with them and who could not comprehend that Europe including Germany after the Holocaust and the post-war-crimes after World War II in Europe could stand and look and do nothing. In so far I do not want to criticize Bosnian Politicians today but I prefer to name some of them, who fought against odds Politicians and a General (Among others), I admire and respect: Mirko Pejanovic, Stjepan Kljujic, Jovan Divjak, Hakija Turajlic, Mirko Lazovic, Irfan Ljubijankic. Some of them would not have signed the Dayton-Agreement and as convincing representatives of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Bosnia and Herzegovina would probably have been more successful provided they would have been in power in time.