The Hague, Netherlands ? Generals and politicians have been convicted of genocide, but the U.N.’s highest court will consider today whether a nation – in this case Serbia – can be guilty of humanity’s worst crime.

The stakes potentially include billions of dollars and history’s judgment.

Thirteen years after Bosnia filed the case with the International Court of Justice, its lawyers will lay out their lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro – the successor state for the defunct Yugoslavia – charging it with a premeditated attempt to destroy Bosnia’s Muslim population, in whole or part.

“Not since the end of the Second World War and the revelations of the horrors of Nazi Germany’s ‘Final Solution’ has Europe witnessed the utter destruction of a people, for no other reason than they belong to a particular national ethnical, racial, and religious group as such,” said the lawsuit’s opening paragraph, drafted for the Bosnian government by American lawyer Francis A. Boyle.

It is one of the most complex and far-reaching rulings ever sought from the tribunal, also known as the world court. Arguments are scheduled to take six weeks, and it likely will be a year before the 16 judges deliver their verdict.

The case hinges on whether the court is persuaded that the Serbian state, and not just a group of individuals, had the specific intent to wipe out the Muslims of eastern Bosnia as a distinct community.

The court’s rulings are binding, and a refusal to abide by them could be referred to the U.N. Security Council for action.