The Scorpions Video and the Matter -of- Factness of Killing
In mid-July 1995, the Scorpions paramilitary unit executed six people, three of them underage. The men and boys were caught after Srebrenica fell, a few days earlier, and were taken to a secluded location close to the town of Trnovo, and killed. The execution was filmed by a member of the unit, and the footage became public during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the ICTY, in 2005. In the context of the former Yugoslavia, this video is a rare example of perpetrators filming themselves during an execution. It provides particularly valuable insight, as the voices of the perpetrators are recorded so we hear clearly what they say, to victims, and one another, and it is particularly interesting because many of the perpetrators were later charged and discussed the video at length in court. This presentation will analyze the video with the aim of understanding what it can tell us about the perpetrators and the nature of the crime.