The Sound, Smell and Taste of Atrocity Crimes ― Witnesses’ and Perpetrators’ Perspectives in International Courtrooms

The success of a modern criminal prosecution largely depends on witnesses’ ability to describe their personal sensory experiences. Their accounts then come to life, rendering them more reliable and credible―criteria for their effective use at trial.
This paper first traces some of the sounds, smells, and taste described by witnesses in the Srebrenica trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It focuses on the significance of leaders’ speeches as the background ‘noise’ to the crimes committed. Other sounds assessed include the screams of a pig being slaughtered during negotiations between the Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Muslims and UNPROFOR’s Dutch Battalion, and the barking of dogs in UNPROFOR’s compound where the Muslims were sheltering, on the night of the fall of Srebrenica. The smell of burnt belongings of the detained Muslim men, destined to be executed, and the taste of sweets given to Muslim children, as part of Ratko Mladić’s media stunt, are also evaluated. This to demonstrate how such evidence was effectively used as proof of some elements of the crimes.
The paper then turns to the use of, for instance, sounds by perpetrators to camouflage their nefarious conduct. One cannot but recall the playing of orchestras on the platforms of Auschwitz, intended to soothe the fears of the Jews arriving to their unknown fates. Nor can one forget the revolutionary songs played in Cambodia, meant to muffle the screams of torture.
Sounds, smells and taste are the essence of witness testimony, highlighting the personal experience of victims and eyewitnesses. But they can also be evidence of how perpetrators operate to hoodwink their targeted victims. Their knowledge and intent may thus be inferred. The sounds, smells and taste of atrocity crimes come in all tones, strengths, and flavours, but they invariably paint a vivid picture of that experience.