Europe Prepares For High Profile War Crimes Trial

by Dan Forrest
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - This week's arrest of wanted war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic kicked off what could become the world's most important war crimes trial in recent decades.  The ICTY has successfully convicted warriors and paramilitary thugs in the past, but it has yet to bring justice to one of the masterminds behind the slaughter occurring during the Bosnian conflict.  Recall that no verdict was rendered in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic - he died before a verdict could be reached. 

Such an important trial also brings with it a huge wave of anticipation.  There is much speculation as to who will defend Karadzic, and what his defense will be.  CNN reports that Karadzic will defend himself against the charges, and that his lawyer, Sveta Vujacic, will fight his extradition to the ICTY at The Hague. 

Karadzic faces several charges, but experts predict that the most difficult for prosecutors to prove will be genocide.  This is because proving genocide will require prosecutors to establish not only proof of atrocities in the Bosnia war, but also that these killings were the result of an attempt to "destroy in whole or in part a specific group."  In this fashion, prosecutors have to get inside Karadzic's mind and present to the tribunal proof of his intentions - this is no easy task. 

The importance of Karadzic's arrest cannot be underscored enough, yet at the same time, not everyone is optimistic about the outcome of his trial.  Many citizens in Srebrenica admit that they lost some hope in the justice process during the long period it has taken to find Karadzic.  Some feel that the media is now glorifying Karadzic's eccentric tactics to evade justice, and that in the process, the world's attention is being lost where it belongs - on his countless victims. 

In an effort to ease the workload for the ICTY, the UN has extended the court's 2010 closure date to allow Mr. Karadzic's trial to finish. 

For more information, please see:

BBC - Court wants exemplary Karadzic trial - 24 July 2008

CNN - Karadzic to defend himself in war crimes court - 24 July 2008

International Herald Tribune - Serb leader's capture brings little solace at site of killings in Bosnia - 25 July 2008

Comments

[Fred]

It would not be necessary to get inside his head to establish his command responsibility, at least. See this interesting interview w/r/t the al-Bashir indictment:

http://bit.ly/435u6