Society for Threatened Peoples calls for the opening-up of all wartime archives relating to Former Yugoslavia.

All wartime archives relating to the Former Yugoslavia must be opened up immediately in order to ensure that the individuals responsible for terrible crimes against humanity in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be brought to trial and surviving victims obtain justice. Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV) called for the records to be made available as prosecuting and defence counsel were making their closing submissions before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague today (Friday) in the trial of French

journalist and former spokesperson for Carla del Ponte Florence Hartmann. Hartmann is charged with disclosing confidential information relating to the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in contempt of Court rulings. She faces the possibility of up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 Euro.

In 2003 during a closed session of the International Criminal Tribunal's Trial Chamber held in the absence of prosecuting counsel, Serbia and Montenegro's legal representative obtained the Court's agreement to restrict access to the minutes and stenographic notes of meetings of the Supreme Defence Council (VVO) of Serbia and Montenegro and so prevent them being used in proceedings before the ICTY or being made available to the public. "There can be no playing games where genocide. mass expulsions and mass murder are concerned", observed Tilman Zülch, President of GfbV International / STP International. "An international court should not be involved in the suppression of the truth".

The proceedings brought against Hartmann have caused distress to committed human rights activists everywhere because of Hartmann's obvious dedication to the truth and determination to reveal the background to the crimes that were committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zülch observed. If the surviving victims of genocide and expulsion are finally to obtain justice the ICTY must release all censored and confidential documents in its keeping without further delay. Pressure must also be brought to bear on the Serbian government to permit access to its official archives. Interests of state and national interests must not be allowed to take precedence over the interests of the victims, truth and justice.

In the trial of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and again in the action brought before the International Court of Justice by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia, the Serbians were able with ICTY consent to deny access to important evidence relating to the Republic of Serbia's responsibility for the genocide against the Bosnian Muslims, the existence of concentration and rape camps, the besieging and bombardment of Bosnian towns and cities for years on end and the mass murder of at least 8373 men and boys from Srebrenica. As a result they have caused serious damage to the reputation of the international justice system by denying Bosnia the opportunity to show how the Milosevic government had planned and carried out genocide and mass expulsions in Bosnia with the assistance of Serbian and Bosnian Serb forces. GfbV has condemned this policy as "doing deals over evidence".

For further information Tilman Zülch can be contacted at politik@gfbv.de