## Facts

- Srebrenica was designated a UN “safe area” in 1993 amid armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- In July 1995, Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) forces overran Srebrenica (6–11 July).
- After the fall, thousands of Bosnian Muslim civilians gathered at Potočari near a UN compound under severe humanitarian and security conditions.
- VRS forces separated Bosnian Muslim men and boys from women, children, and the elderly; the latter were forcibly transferred out of the area.
- Thousands of Bosnian Muslim men attempted to flee in a forest column toward Bosnian government territory; many were captured.
- From 13–19 July 1995, captured Bosnian Muslim men and boys were systematically executed at multiple sites; bodies were buried in mass graves and later reburied to conceal the crimes.
- The Trial Chamber found that approximately 7,000–8,000 Bosnian Muslim men from Srebrenica were killed.
- Radislav Krstić, a VRS Major General and Drina Corps commander during the operation, held senior authority in the formation responsible for the Srebrenica region.
- The Chamber found evidence that Krstić knew of the operation and the fate of detained men and that Drina Corps resources supported takeover, detention, deportation, and execution-related operations.

## Issues

1. Whether the mass executions of Bosnian Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica, together with the forcible transfer of women, children, and the elderly, constituted genocide under Article 4 of the ICTY Statute.
2. Whether the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica constituted a “substantial part” of the protected Bosnian Muslim group for purposes of genocide.
3. Whether Krstić incurred individual criminal responsibility for genocide and related crimes based on his command position, knowledge, and participation in operational support.

## Decision

- The Trial Chamber held that the VRS campaign at Srebrenica—including mass executions and forcible transfer—constituted genocide.
- It found that the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica were a substantial part of the protected group.
- It convicted Krstić of genocide (Article 4), crimes against humanity (including persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, and inhumane acts/forcible transfer) (Article 5), and murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war (Article 3).
- It sentenced Krstić to 46 years’ imprisonment.

## Legal Principles

- Genocide requires proof of an enumerated act (including killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm) committed with specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
- A “substantial part” of a protected group may be assessed using both quantitative and qualitative considerations, including the targeted segment’s importance to the group’s survival as a community in a given area.
- Genocidal intent may be inferred from the pattern of conduct, including the scale and systematic nature of killings, selection of victims, and coordinated measures that eliminate the community’s ability to survive or return.
- Forcible transfer of a population, when coordinated with mass killing of the community’s men and accompanied by terror and abuse, can evidence intent to destroy a protected group “in part” by eliminating the community from the region.
- Crimes against humanity require a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population; discriminatory targeting supports persecution and related offenses.
- War crimes of murder require a nexus to the armed conflict and victims who are civilians or otherwise hors de combat.

## Conclusion

The Trial Chamber determined that the coordinated killing of Srebrenica’s Bosnian Muslim men and boys, coupled with the forced removal of the remaining population, amounted to genocide against a substantial part of the protected group, and it held a senior Drina Corps commander criminally responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.


Prosecutor v. Krstić, Case No. IT-98-33-T (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia Trial Chamber I Aug. 2, 2001)