The third feature-length documentary produced by the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme - Through their Eyes: Witnesses to Justice - was screened this week in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The screenings attracted a total of 150 guests, including NGO representatives, academics, government officials, diplomats, students and journalists.    

The documentary focuses on the role played by survivors of crimes in the work of the ICTY, through the stories of five victims of wartime crimes from the former Yugoslavia who share their personal experiences of giving testimony before the Tribunal.

All three screenings were followed by Q&A sessions with filmmakers Petar Finci and Steve Coulson. The discussion centered on the importance of witness testimony for establishing facts about the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia during the conflicts in the 1990s.

Commenting on the value of the documentary, a former ICTY witness and one of the protagonists in the film, Ms. Minka Čehajić said: “I felt it was my moral duty to come before the court and testify and I felt deep satisfaction for doing that. I have no doubt that I would do it again, if required.”

The documentary, which is available in English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), will be distributed to victim organisations, schools and partner NGOs in the former Yugoslavia and beyond.

Through their Eyes: Witnesses to Justice premiered in November last year during the Tribunal’s 20^th anniversary conference in Sarajevo. The first of the Outreach-produced documentaries - Sexual Violence and the Triumph of Justice, which presents the Tribunal’s historic role in the prosecution and adjudication of wartime sexual violence - premiered in 2012. That film was followed in 2013 by Crimes Before the ICTY: Prijedor, which looks at the cases heard before the Tribunal concerning crimes that occurred in the Prijedor area.

The production of documentaries forms part of the Tribunal’s efforts to raise awareness about the ICTY’s role in establishing facts about the crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, and bringing to justice those responsible.