The chilling footage of the killings in Bosnia, which took place after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, was shown on Serbian television this week. It was the first time that graphic images of the Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, have been seen.

Serbian authorities yesterday arrested six former paramilitary policemen believed to have taken part in the killings. Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, said the arrests were ordered after Serbia witnessed a “brutal, callous and disgraceful crime against civilians”.

The arrests coincide with a visit to Belgrade by Carla del Ponte, prosecutor in the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Speaking at a joint news conference with Ms del Ponte, Mr Kostunica said: “I think it is important for our public that we reacted immediately and that based on this shocking and horrible footage several of those who are involved in this crime are arrested and will answer to justice.”

The video is reminiscent of wartime footage of the Einsatzgruppen, the SS extermination squads which murdered Jews on the Eastern Front. Paramilitaries dressed in black or in military uniforms, some with Serbian flag emblems on their berets, are shown dragging out emaciated Muslim men from lorries. The men have their hands tied behind their backs and show signs of having been severely beaten.

They shuffle along despondently, almost certainly aware that these are their last moments. They are marched to the side of the road, told to stand, then shot in the back.

Two prisoners are kept aside, moaning quietly as they watch the others being killed. Once these two men have moved the corpses, they are killed. The video camera then shows the bodies by the side of the road. The grisly footage is interspersed with a voice complaining that the battery is running low in the recorder.

Much of Serbia is still in denial about the Srebrenica massacre, and a recent poll indicated that more than half those questioned refuse to believe that it took place. Nationalists and skinheads frequently physically attack those trying to discuss Srebrenica and open the debate about Serbia’s responsibility. But the footage of the ruthless slaughter of unarmed men has triggered a wave of revulsion and aided those trying to force Serbia to come to terms with its past.

Andrej Nosov, of the Belgrade-based Youth Initiative for Human Rights, said: “The crucial thing is that the Government and Prime Minister Kostunica have reacted quickly to this footage. People in Serbia still believe what the Government tells them, and these arrests are an important blow to those who deny that the massacre at Srebrenica happened.”

The video was first shown at the UN war crimes tribunal on Wednesday at the trial of the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who is charged with war crimes and genocide. The arrested men are members of the notorious Scorpions, a paramilitary unit attached to the Serbian interior ministry and linked to the Milosevic-era secret service.

The footage is highly significant as it appears to show that Serbian police paramilitaries, and not just Bosnian Serbian troops, carried out the killings. It could have a significant impact on Mr Milosevic’s trial if the prosecution can prove it links the Milosevic regime to the Srebrenica massacre. The former Serbian leader has always maintained that Serbia itself was not involved in the Bosnian war, despite substantial evidence to the contrary.

Ms del Ponte said that the Scorpions were under the command of the Serbian interior ministry and were transferred to Bosnia with the knowledge of the Serbian police.

Ms del Ponte praised the Serbian authorities for the speed with which they arrested the men filmed. But questions remain over why, if their identities were known, it took ten years to apprehend them. The answer may lie in the lure of eventual EU membership for Serbia, as much as a desire for justice.

THE MASSACRE

• About 7,000 Bosnian men and boys over 12 were massacred at Srebrenica from July 13 to July 19, 1995
• 600 Dutch peacekeepers were defending the UN “safe area” when it was attacked by Bosnian Serbs led by Ratko Mladic
• Victims were gathered in warehouses and shot. Others were killed by shells as they fled
• Mladic’s troops hid bodies in mass graves; 6,000 have been exhumed and 1,500 identified
• Radislav Krstic, a Bosnian Serb commander who led the massacre with Mladic, was given 46 years at the tribunal in 2001

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