Watching War Crimes: The Srebrenica Video and the Serbian Attitudes to the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre

Reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia is an important element in the re‐establishment of lasting peace and security in the region and is mainly facilitated by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In June 2005, this process was affected significantly by the broadcasting of a video of Serbian police forces executing a group of young Muslim men following the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. The video, made public during the Milosevic trial, affected public opinion in Serbia, forcing it to acknowledge the event and Serbia's role in it. It also influenced Serbia's political elite and provided a stimulus for a more open debate about war crimes committed during the Yugoslav war. The episode shows the power of moving images and their potential role in the work of the ICTY and the reconciliation process as a whole.