(Jul. 10) During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1995, the Bosnian-Serb forces attacked the enclave of Srebrenica, declared a “protected area” by the United Nations and, where thousands of Bosnian Muslims had taken shelter. Around 8,000 Bosnian-Muslim men and boys were killed and thrown into mass graves. Thousands of women – many victims of sexual violence – and children were deported to other parts of the Country. Twenty years after the Srebrenica genocide is time for reflection, memories, analysis. The University of Florence does it with an international summit. To the events in Srebrenica – a tragic page of history recently defined as “the worst atrocity committed in Europe since the World War II” – is, in fact, also linked the figure of Antonio Cassese (Professor of International Law at the University of Florence from 1975 to 2008), who in July 1995 was president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, at that time recently formed. “The massacres of Srebrenica deeply impressed Cassese, who saw undermined his belief in the deterring effect international criminal justice. An international conference, organized for November in memory of Antonio Cassese – announces Luisa Vierucci, professor at the University of Florence – intends to examine the judicial response that was given to the events in Srebrenica, in order to identify all its aspects”. Several domestic and international tribunals have ruled on the crimes committed in Srebrenica in terms of both criminal and civil liability, but the mothers of Srebrenica continue to demand justice. (Red)
