Serbs stunned by pictures of massacre at Srebenica
By Alex Todorovic in Belgrade
(Filed: 03/06/2005)
A horrifying video showing Serb paramilitaries murdering six emaciated and bound Muslim youths near Srebrenica in 1995 stunned Serbia yesterday.
It brought immediate condemnation from political leaders and was followed by the arrest of eight suspects.
President Boris Tadic went on national television to tell viewers that the pictures, which only came to light this week, were proof of the "monstrous" crimes committed in Serbia's name during the Yugoslav wars - crimes for which many senior Serbs are already convicted or on trial.
"Those seen in these pictures committing murder were free men until yesterday. They were walking our streets," a visibly shaken Mr Tadic said on state television. They must face justice, he added.
The graphic film was shot near the town whose name now recalls the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two, in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed over several days and their bodies bulldozed into mass graves.
It was shown by the prosecution during the war crimes trial of former Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague on Wednesday.
The film began with a Serb Orthodox priest blessing the camouflaged paramilitary troops in a boot camp in Bosnia.
The group, called the Scorpions, is shown taking the six young men out of a truck with their hands tied behind their backs. They are led to a clearing where at least three are seen being shot at close range.
The faces of the perpetrators can be seen and their insults to the scared young Muslims can be clearly heard. The film was shot by a member of the Scorpions.
It was the first such graphic material from the massacre in Srebrenica to be shown in Serbia, where more than half the population refuses to believe the massacre even took place, according to a poll last month.
The grim scenes were later broadcast on the evening news by at least two television channels, including state television RTS. B-92 television said footage of two youths who were tortured before being killed was too disturbing to be shown. Zivko Maravic, a professional footballer in Belgrade, spoke of his shock at the footage. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. From the priest blessing those troops to the utter coldness of the killings, the whole thing sent shivers down my spine."
Srebrenica was a United Nations designated "safe area" in 1995, but it was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces who pushed Dutch troops aside. Its starving population was sorted out for execution and the males were led away.
The prime suspects in the massacre are the Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic and his political leader Radovan Karadzic. They are still on the run. Yesterday's arrests were announced by Vojislav Kostunica, the prime minister, at a news conference with the visiting UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte. Mr Kostunica described the footage as showing a "brutal, callous and disgraceful crime against civilians".
He added: "It is important for our public that we reacted immediately." Serbia has often been criticised for not curbing hero-worship of indicted war crimes suspects.
Belgrade has always denied involvement in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. But Miss del Ponte said the Scorpions were under the command of Serbian police and were transferred to Bosnia with police knowledge.