| Press Release | TRIBUNAL |
(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)
VE/CS/PR1496e
Outreach Programme documentary on sexual violence premieres in Novi Sad
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The Tribunal’s Outreach Programme yesterday screened its feature-length documentary "Sexual Violence and the Triumph of Justice" at the premises of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojovodina in Novi Sad, Serbia. The event was attended by some 40 guests, among whom were journalists, students and NGO representatives.
The documentary depicts the Tribunal’s historic role in the prosecution and adjudication of wartime sexual violence. The documentary includes interviews with former and current senior staff members of the ICTY, as well as testimonies from witnesses and survivors of sexual violence, who bravely gave evidence at trials.
President of Independent Journalists Association of Vojvodina (IJAV), Dinko Gruhonjić commented: “Even though I was aware of the terrible crimes that took place in Bosnia and Croatia during the wars, I found it difficult then and still find it difficult now to believe that such atrocities really did happen. Despite the levels of media coverage of the Balkan wars, most people today in Serbia don’t know about the crimes that took place.”
The screening was followed by a round table discussion. The panel was composed of Nerma Jelačić, Head of ICTY Outreach Programme; Svenka Savić, Professor Emerita of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Novi Sad; Sociologist Janja Beč Neumann; and Dinko Gruhonjić, President of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina. The panelists spoke about the issues pertaining to the prosecution and adjudication of sexual violence in war crimes cases before Serbian courts. The focus was on the rights of the victims, the social stigma victims face after testifying and how war affects women.
Available in English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), the documentary will be distributed to victim organisations, local schools, and partner NGOs in the region, with a broadcast on main TV stations planned for 2012.
The production of this documentary forms part of the Tribunal’s efforts to raise awareness and understanding of the crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, and its achievements in punishing those responsible and setting a legal precedent internationally.
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The Tribunal’s Outreach Programme
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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