SARAJEVO, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Court of Justice(ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday rejected a request for a review of the 2007 verdict which cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina(BiH) during the 1992-1995 war, local media reported.
BiH's legal counsel Sakib Softic submitted a request to the ICJ last month for a review of the 2007 judgment. The appeal request was supported by the BiH's Bosniak member of the tripartite presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic.
However, BiH's Serb politicians strongly oppose the appeal, arguing that it is unconstitutional because it has not been approved by the state-level tripartite presidency.
"The court considers that the contents of these letters shows that a decision was not made by the competent body on behalf of BiH as a state in terms of requests for revision of the judgment of February 26, 2007," the Hague court's letter said, according to Fena, BiH's federal news agency.
It added that therefore the court can do nothing to review the judgment.
In the 2007 verdict, the International Court of Justice held that the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces was genocide, but that Serbia was not responsible for the killings.
The window during which an appeal can be lodged at the ICJ expires on February 26 this year.
