ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Dojčinović focuses on the specific research and analytical project within the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY in the trial of Ratko Mladić, the Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army. The analytical model designed and utilized throughout this trial is based on the specific speech acts and utterances identified in all categories of evidence indicating genocidal and persecutory intent of the Accused shared with other members of the joint criminal enterprise at all levels. The chapter places strong emphasis on the semantic content of the utterances, the type of intent identified in the utterances, the effect they may have had on the principal perpetrators as well as their relevance, probative value and modes of admissibility as a special category of evidence. Ultimately, the chapter demonstrates that international criminal proceedings have seen the emergence of a new type of key evidence: a cognitive, linguistic, contextually determined manifestation of mens rea within a shared historical, political and cultural referential framework. Dojčinović argues that this emerging body of evidence requires a new set of rules and methods in international criminal proceedings, and a more comprehensive intellectual, scientifically minded approach to the identification and interpretation of mental elements in mass atrocity crimes.
