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| July 22, 2008 |
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Radovan Karadzic Arrested in Belgrade By
Anthony Dworkin |
Radovan Karadzic, political leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the war in Bosnia and one of the two most wanted war crimes suspects in Europe, has been arrested in Serbia and is likely to be transferred to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague within days. The news of Karadzic's arrest is an enormously significant development for the tribunal. Along with the Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, Karadzic was the individual most immediately responsible for the Bosnian Serb campaign of "ethnic cleansing" that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Bosnian civilians. He has evaded justice for thirteen years, since first being indicted by the tribunal in 2005. The arrest of Karadzic is also significant for Serbia's relationship with the European Union. It came as the foreign ministers of the EU -- which the new government of Serbia hopes to join -- prepared for two days of talks which will include discussion of Serbia's cooperation with war crimes prosecutions. The EU agreed a provisional pre-accession agreement with Serbia in April, but the agreement is on hold until the EU is satisfied that Serbia is genuinely cooperating with the war crimes tribunal. The arrest of Karadzic appears to vindicate those European countries who held out against any relaxation of the war crimes provision for the pre-accession agreement to come into effect. Attention will now turn to whether Serbia also takes steps to arrest Mladic, along with the last remaining suspect at large, a Croatian Serb military leader. Karadzic faces eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his part in the war in Bosnia. The allegations relate to his involvement in the general campaign of ethnic cleansing, to his responsibility for the siege of Sarajevo, and to the Srebrenica massacre, in which around 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. Karadzic's close political associate, Momcilo Krajisnik, was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2006, though cleared on charges of genocide. The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has said that, during the war in Bosnia, only the Srebrenica massacre clearly displayed genocidal intent. Therefore, a crucial issue regarding the genocide charges against Karadzic may be how closely he was involved in plans for the killing that took place in Srebrenica. But his conviction on the charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes appears to be a foregone conclusion.
Related chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know: Persecutions on Political, Racial or Religious Grounds Back to Top |
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