Bosnian Serb Panel Links 17,000 to Roles in Srebrenica
Massacre
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 5, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/05/international/europe/05bosnia.html

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oct. 4 (AP) - A
Bosnian Serb commission said Tuesday that it had
identified more than 17,000 people who had taken part
directly and indirectly in the Srebrenica massacre in
1995, the worst slaughter of civilians in Europe since
World War II.

The commission, which has been compiling the report
since 2003, said the names would not be released
publicly. Instead, they will be turned over to the
state prosecutor's office for review and possible
charges.

The panel said it had submitted the report to the
office of the top international official in Bosnia,
Paddy Ashdown, who requested it as part of efforts to
bring to justice those responsible for the massacre of
up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys toward the end of
Bosnia's civil war.

The panel said 19,473 members of various Bosnian Serb
armed forces and civilians had taken part in the
massacre, and of those, 17,074 had been identified by
name. About 24,000 Bosnian Serb troops converged on
Srebrenica, a United Nations-designated haven for
Bosnian Muslims seeking refuge from the Serbs.

The commission did not establish which participants
were directly involved in the killing because its
mandate "was not to establish the level of
responsibility in the killings," said Smail Cekic, a
panel member.

The state prosecutor's office said authorities would
treat as a "special priority" anyone on the list who
holds public office or works in law enforcement or the
judiciary.

The bloodshed began on July 11, 1995, when Serbian
forces stormed past the eastern enclave's hopelessly
outnumbered and outgunned Dutch peacekeepers and
rounded up its inhabitants. At a car battery factory
on the edge of town, men and boys were separated from
women and girls and then were hauled away, forced to
strip, and shot one by one.

A United Nations war crimes tribunal judge described
the killing as "scenes from hell written on the
darkest pages of human history."

Mr. Ashdown's office issued a statement on Tuesday
acknowledging that the Bosnian Serb government had
finally "taken its obligations seriously" in providing
details about the massacre.

About 260,000 people were killed and 1.8 million
driven from their homes during the 1992-95 civil war,
which pitted Bosnia's Muslims, Catholic Croats and
Orthodox Serbs against one another.

More Srebrenica Remains Found

TUZLA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oct. 4 (AP) - Forensic
experts have recovered the remains of 213 more victims
of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, an investigator
said Tuesday.

The mass grave in the northeastern Bosnia village of
Liplje has so far been found to contain "212
incomplete and one complete body," said Murat Hurtic,
the head of the forensic team.

The bodies found Tuesday were originally buried
elsewhere but later dug up by bulldozer and moved to
Liplje to cover up the massacre, Mr. Hurtic said.
About 1,000 victims were found in four other mass
graves previously discovered in Liplje, he said.
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Report names 17,000 over Srebrenica massacre

AP in Sarajevo
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,1585644,00.html

The Bosnian state prosecutor's office said yesterday
it would handle as a priority a list, identified by a
Bosnian Serb commission, of more than 17,000
participants in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's
worst slaughter of civilians since the second world
war.

The special Bosnian Serb government working group,
which has been compiling the report since 2003, said
on Tuesday that the list would not be made public but
would be turned over to the state prosecutor's office
for review and possible charges.

The prosecutor's office said once it was submitted the
list would be made a priority
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Learn more about Srebrenica massacre at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Srebrenica/