Karadzic and the search for justice
July 22nd, 2008
After evading capture for over a decade, the
Bosnian-Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic is finally in custody. It is
expected that he will be sent to the Netherlands to stand trial in front of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Will Karadzic
get a fair trial? Will anyone – those who died and those who survived the
break-up of the Yugoslav state - get the justice they deserve? I doubt it.
Before I go any further, let me make it
abundantly clear that I think Karadzic should face a court to account for the
serious accusations made against him. The short list includes the three year
strangulation of Sarajevo and the slaughter of about 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in
Srebrenica in 1997. These events and other accusations all add-up to the charge
of committing genocide.
Karadzic was the ugly political face of Serbian
nationalism in Bosnia as the former Yugoslavia collapsed into civil war. He was
part of a terrible history, but he was far from alone. This is why sending him
to the ICTY is problematic in the very least, and without a doubt more than a
tad bit hypocritical.
The ICTY was established with a noble mission: to
punish gross violators of human rights and serve as a deterrent stopping others
from committing the same. Neither has happened. The ICTY was established 15
years ago, only later did the massacres at Srebrenica and the ethnic cleansing
in Kosovo occur. The hope for deterrence never played out.
The ICTY was also supposed to promote justice and
closure for victims and survivors – and prison terms for the perpetrators. The
opposite has happened. The peoples of the former Yugoslavia, particularly the
Serbs, view the tribunal as a political tool and full of bias. Instead of being
a vehicle of reconciliation, the tribunal has only been a lightning-rod
continuing hatred and grief.
There are numerous examples of the tribunal’s
bias. First off is the fact that three-fourths of all indictments have been
served against Serbs. I have no illusions on this score. Indeed some Serbs did
commit war crimes, but to claim the “loser” in this conflict committed far
more crimes than the other participants smacks of duplicity and a political
agenda. Some of the Croat defendants at the tribunal will probably never stand
trial. In one case, the reason is because of the defendant’s “poor health.”
Ante Gotovina is accused of heading a murderous
campaign in 1995 that targeted Serbs with ethnic cleansing. It is quite possible
he will walk. Why, one may ask? Just maybe the EU behind closed doors assured
the Croat government that was always part of the deal for giving him up.
Gotovina has been in custody for five years. There has been no meaningful
movement in his trial. The ICTY is supposed to hear its last appeal in 2010
before it shuts down for good. All Gotovina has to do is stay in bed until then.
Let’s have a look at Kosovo. This new, but
illegitimate, state is the new darling of the West. Amazingly, its wartime
leaders are called “democrats” now. The gross human rights violations
committed against Kosovo’s Serb minority since 1999 have been ignored by the
ICTY and the international community. Look at the history and the names.
It appears Karadzic will have his day in court.
But is it the right court?
Just about everyone I read in Western media
claims the Serbian government finally gave up Karadzic to further Serbia’s
membership in the EU. I completely agree that Serbia should be in the EU one day
and soon. But if Karadzic’s trial turns out to be a “quickie” then we will
all finally understand that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia was never about justice. If this comes to pass, then the first victim
of the ICTY will be justice itself.
I am not defending Karadzic, but I am truly
disappointed that politicians – not historians – have taken upon themselves
to judge the past.
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