SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 15,2008) - The retrial of Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija for war crimes against Bosnian civilians committed in the western Bosnian town of Kljuc,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, has been completed.
Presentation of evidence before the Appellate Chamber of the Bosnian State Court has been completed with the additional examination of the indictee.The presentation of closing arguments is due today.
The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija, as former member of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS), with having participated in the deportation and murder of a large number of Bosnian civilians from Brkici and Balagica Brdo hamlets, in Kljuc Municipality.
The Bosnian State Court pronounced a first instance verdict against Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija, sentencing him to 26 years in prison for these crimes. However, in May 2007 the verdict was revoked and a retrial was ordered.
During the course of the retrial audio recordings of the hearings held before the first instance Chamber were heard. Some new pieces of evidence were presented and the indictee was additionally examined. He began his testimony at the last hearing, held on September 29.
During his testimony Serbian war criminal said that he would have "stopped the murders committed in front of the school building in the Bosnian village of Biljani, had I known about them".
The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges that Samardzija ordered all Bosnian civilians to leave their houses in Biljani on July 10, 1992. After that they were taken to the local school building, in which they were detained and mass murdered by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor.
"I did not know that those murders were going to happen. I found out about them the following day. When I took the civilians to the school in Biljani, I though that they were going to be examined about weapons and given movement permits," Samardzija said, adding that about 40 Bosnian civilians were killed in the vicinity of the school building.
Serbian war criminal said he thought that the Bosnian civilians, who were transferred to the Manjaca concentration camp, "would not be killed".
Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija also said that he "was apprised of the incidents, which had happened in the Biljani area prior to July 10, 1992," but he could not assume that "something bad was going to happen on that date".
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Showing posts with label serbian fascism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label serbian fascism. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES ARRESTED FOUR SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS TODAY
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 14,2008) - Bosnian police today arrested four Serbians living in Bosnia suspected of taking part in a mass murder of more than 200 Bosnian civilians and Croatians living in Bosnia during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, the Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office said.
The mass murder in central Bosnia occurred on August 21st, 1992.Serbian war criminals Milorad Skrbic, Milorad Radakovic, Gordan Djuric and Ljubisa Cetic were arrested on charges of crimes against humanity in the area of the northwestern Bosnian town of Prijedor, the Bosnian State Prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"They are suspected of taking part in the execution on Mount Vlasic of more than 200 Bosniak and Croat civilians who had been taken off the buses that transported them from a Prijedor area concentration camp to the central Bosnian town of Travnik," it said.
The genocide victims were told by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor they were being released in a prisoner exchange and were driven from the Trnopolje concentration camp to some woods.
There, the detained Bosnian and Croatian civilians were forced to kneel by the edge of a ravine and shot by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor. A dozen survived by tumbling or jumping down the cliff.
Former member of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS),Serbian war criminal Darko Mrdja, who confessed to taking part in the massacre on Mount Vlasic, was jailed for 17 years in 2004 by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
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The mass murder in central Bosnia occurred on August 21st, 1992.Serbian war criminals Milorad Skrbic, Milorad Radakovic, Gordan Djuric and Ljubisa Cetic were arrested on charges of crimes against humanity in the area of the northwestern Bosnian town of Prijedor, the Bosnian State Prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"They are suspected of taking part in the execution on Mount Vlasic of more than 200 Bosniak and Croat civilians who had been taken off the buses that transported them from a Prijedor area concentration camp to the central Bosnian town of Travnik," it said.
The genocide victims were told by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor they were being released in a prisoner exchange and were driven from the Trnopolje concentration camp to some woods.
There, the detained Bosnian and Croatian civilians were forced to kneel by the edge of a ravine and shot by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor. A dozen survived by tumbling or jumping down the cliff.
Former member of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS),Serbian war criminal Darko Mrdja, who confessed to taking part in the massacre on Mount Vlasic, was jailed for 17 years in 2004 by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
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Tuesday, September 9, 2008
BOSNIA DEMANDS FROM SWEDEN NOT TO ALLOW EARLY RELEASE OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL BILJANA PLAVSIC FROM PRISON
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 9,2008) - A member of the Bosnian State Presidency Željko Komšić has urged Sweden yesterday not to allow the early release of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavšić,who was convicted for war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
Bosnian State Presidency Member Željko Komšić sent a letter to Pero Westerberg, the Parliament President of Sweden, and Frederik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, of the following content:
"In the Swedish prison Hinseberg, since 23.06.2003, Biljana Plavšić has been serving her eleven-year long sentence convicted by ICTY for being a member of the top war leadership of the Bosnian Serbs, for the worst crimes committed against humanity. She participated in planning, creation and implementation of persecution and destruction of the Bosniacs, the Croats and other non-Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I possess information about the possibility that after serving 2/3 of the punishment, the competent judicial organs of the Kingdom of Sweden could accept the prisoner’s request for shortening the sentence, i.e. a pardon her and forward it to ICTY.
As a Member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, but also personally, I think that, given the gravity of the acts for which she has been convicted, and because of her reported unwillingness to have any further cooperation with the ICTY in other cases, any act of mercy toward the mentioned person would be a great mistake and an insult for the families of the victims of the criminal enterprise in which she took part for which she has been convicted.
In addition to the committed genocide in the Srebrenica area, more than 100,000 killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, hundreds of thousands of wounded and thousands of raped women are a direct result of Biljana Plavšić’s activities, as well as the fact that there are more than 13,000 persons currently missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
One should especially bear in mind the fact that 60,000 citizens originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina currently live and work in the Kingdom of Sweden, majority of them had had to leave the country because of the prisoner’s war engagement.
I am of the opinion that all this does not leave any ethical possibility for displaying any act of mercy toward the prisoner, for the competent organs of the Kingdom of Sweden.
I hope that you will respect my opinion on this matter and in this way contribute to the enhancement and improvement of the traditionally friendly relations between our two countries.”
Serbian fascist Biljana Plavsic, 78, was indicted and tried by The Hague Tribunal. In 2002, she plea bargained and was convicted to a shamefully low sentence of 11 years in jail for crimes against humanity.
As part of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s plea deal, she laid the blame for the genocide committed during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia on the late former Yugoslav president,Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, and on former leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
A month ago, a group of Serbian fascist launched an appeal to the Hague Tribunal and Swedish authorities for Serbian war criminal Plavsic’s early release on the basis of her age and the period she has already spent in the jail. This plea was also backed by the leader of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS",Serban fascist Milorad Dodik, who even visisted her in her cell less than a month ago.
In 2009, the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic will serve two-thirds of her sentence, after which Swedish laws allow an early release of prisoners in case of their good behaviour. However,Komsic’s letter could block this move.
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Bosnian State Presidency Member Željko Komšić sent a letter to Pero Westerberg, the Parliament President of Sweden, and Frederik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, of the following content:
"In the Swedish prison Hinseberg, since 23.06.2003, Biljana Plavšić has been serving her eleven-year long sentence convicted by ICTY for being a member of the top war leadership of the Bosnian Serbs, for the worst crimes committed against humanity. She participated in planning, creation and implementation of persecution and destruction of the Bosniacs, the Croats and other non-Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I possess information about the possibility that after serving 2/3 of the punishment, the competent judicial organs of the Kingdom of Sweden could accept the prisoner’s request for shortening the sentence, i.e. a pardon her and forward it to ICTY.
As a Member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, but also personally, I think that, given the gravity of the acts for which she has been convicted, and because of her reported unwillingness to have any further cooperation with the ICTY in other cases, any act of mercy toward the mentioned person would be a great mistake and an insult for the families of the victims of the criminal enterprise in which she took part for which she has been convicted.
In addition to the committed genocide in the Srebrenica area, more than 100,000 killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, hundreds of thousands of wounded and thousands of raped women are a direct result of Biljana Plavšić’s activities, as well as the fact that there are more than 13,000 persons currently missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
One should especially bear in mind the fact that 60,000 citizens originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina currently live and work in the Kingdom of Sweden, majority of them had had to leave the country because of the prisoner’s war engagement.
I am of the opinion that all this does not leave any ethical possibility for displaying any act of mercy toward the prisoner, for the competent organs of the Kingdom of Sweden.
I hope that you will respect my opinion on this matter and in this way contribute to the enhancement and improvement of the traditionally friendly relations between our two countries.”
Serbian fascist Biljana Plavsic, 78, was indicted and tried by The Hague Tribunal. In 2002, she plea bargained and was convicted to a shamefully low sentence of 11 years in jail for crimes against humanity.
As part of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s plea deal, she laid the blame for the genocide committed during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia on the late former Yugoslav president,Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, and on former leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
A month ago, a group of Serbian fascist launched an appeal to the Hague Tribunal and Swedish authorities for Serbian war criminal Plavsic’s early release on the basis of her age and the period she has already spent in the jail. This plea was also backed by the leader of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS",Serban fascist Milorad Dodik, who even visisted her in her cell less than a month ago.
In 2009, the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic will serve two-thirds of her sentence, after which Swedish laws allow an early release of prisoners in case of their good behaviour. However,Komsic’s letter could block this move.
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Friday, August 29, 2008
SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC REFUSES TO ENTER GENOCIDE PLEA
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (August 29,2008) - Former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic has refused to enter a plea to to 11 charges of genocide and war crimes during his second appearance in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today.During a 24-minute hearing, Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was told that he will be given the chance to air his claims that Nato and the US are trying to kill him at a special session of the UN's war crimes court on Sept 17.
"I will not plead in line with my standpoint as regards to this court," Serbian fascist said, refusing to plead guilty or not guilty.
Iain Bonomy, a Scottish UN judge who will be presiding over the rest of the trial proceedings, automatically entered a not guilty plea on Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's behalf, in line with the court's rule.
"In that case I enter a plea of not guilty on your behalf," the judge said.
The 63-year-old Serbian war criminal continued to insist that he would represent himself over the 11 United Nations charges, but announced his intention of having a "team of associates" at a later date.
Genocide survivors,Bosnian women from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, watch the television broadcast of the appearance of former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic in the court room of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague,the Netherlands,August 29, 2008. Serbian fascist Radovan Karadzic refused to enter pleas for all of the 11 charges against him. The charges against Karadzic include two of genocide over the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the 1995 mass murder of 10,000 Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic who evaded justice for over a decade before finally being arrested in July while living as a faith healer in Belgrade, denounced the court as part of a Western conspiracy to kill him.
Judge Bonomy informed Serbian fascist that he would have the chance to argue his allegations of United States murder plot against him at a "status conference" in 19 days' time.
The judge, called in to replace his Dutch predecessor after complaints of bias from Serbian war criminal.He sharply criticised UN prosecutors for delays after hearing that a planned review of the charges contained in an "operative indictment", first drafted over eight years ago, would not be finished until the end of September.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic is facing trial for genocide and other charges adding up to the most serious war crimes that have taken place on European soil since the Second World War.
UN prosecutors have indicted Serbian fascist Karadzic on 11 counts of offences including: genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, violation of the customs of war, murder and the taking of hostages.
The accusations of genocide will focus on Mr Karadzic's pivotal role in the leadership of the Serbians living in Bosnia which orchestrated the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 10,000 Bosnian civilians and the "death or forced departure" of Bosnian civilians from over 40 Bosnian towns,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
The Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, has been termed genocide by two United Nations tribunals : International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and The International Criminal Court (ICC).
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic is also accused of war crimes following the shelling of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo where 12,000 Bosnian civilians (including 1600 children) were murdered by the genocidal Serbian aggressor.
The Face Of Evil - Former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic sits in the court room of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague,the Netherlands,August 29, 2008. The UN's court has entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf to genocide and war crimes charges after he refused to file his own plea.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
BOSNIAN PRESIDENT HARIS SILAJDZIC: CAPTURE OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC IS A GREAT DAY FOR BOSNIA
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 24,2008) - The arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic will be marked as a great day for Bosnia, the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic said in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.President Silajdzic, in his first reaction on Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s arrest, said in his statement for the Bosnian state television (BHT) that it has been shown that the justice still can be reached, but he has also warned that Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic is still at large.The Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic said that it must not be allowed that the project of those two Serbian war criminals still lives in Bosnia, and by this he meant on the consequences of genocide they are responsible for.
"This is at least some satisfaction for the families of the genocide victims.The justice, however, cannot be complete without the arrest of Ratko Mladic," President Silajdzic said.
Although he had been skeptical about the prospects for Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's arrest, he said that his belief in justice has been restored.
The Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic also said that the arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic will contribute to justice, peace and stability in Bosnia as well as catharsis in the genocidal Serbia.
Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic,have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 1995 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
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LAJCAK WELCOMES ARREST OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 24,2008) - The International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajčák, has welcomed the long awaited arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, since 1995 indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
“The news that Radovan Karadzic has been arrested is positive for Bosnia and for the whole region. This arrest proves that justice reaches everyone. Nobody is untouchable. Although two indictees, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, still remain at large, the arrest of Karadzic can be viewed as the beginning of the end of the most tragic chapter in Bosnia’s modern history,” Lajčák said.
He said that although justice in the Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic case has been delayed it has not been denied.
“Karadzic’s continuing liberty has been an affront to justice and a challenge to the domestic and international legal systems, but justice will now take its course – and that is a matter of the greatest political importance and respect not just for the people of Bosnia but for all of us.”
Lajčák described Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s arrest as “a matter of the integrity of the rule of law” and he said it offered “fresh impetus to the region’s long march to postwar recovery and European integration.
The officials of the European Union already announced that the arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic will have positive consequences concerning the EU integration process of the region.”
The International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia noted that Bosnia in 2008 is a very different country from the one in 1996.
“The arrest of Radovan Karadzic will help the people of Bosnia to turn from past to the future and focus on the challenges they face today,” he concluded.
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“The news that Radovan Karadzic has been arrested is positive for Bosnia and for the whole region. This arrest proves that justice reaches everyone. Nobody is untouchable. Although two indictees, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, still remain at large, the arrest of Karadzic can be viewed as the beginning of the end of the most tragic chapter in Bosnia’s modern history,” Lajčák said.
He said that although justice in the Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic case has been delayed it has not been denied.
“Karadzic’s continuing liberty has been an affront to justice and a challenge to the domestic and international legal systems, but justice will now take its course – and that is a matter of the greatest political importance and respect not just for the people of Bosnia but for all of us.”
Lajčák described Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s arrest as “a matter of the integrity of the rule of law” and he said it offered “fresh impetus to the region’s long march to postwar recovery and European integration.
The officials of the European Union already announced that the arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic will have positive consequences concerning the EU integration process of the region.”
The International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia noted that Bosnia in 2008 is a very different country from the one in 1996.
“The arrest of Radovan Karadzic will help the people of Bosnia to turn from past to the future and focus on the challenges they face today,” he concluded.
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC ARRESTED
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 23,2008) - Serbian fascist barbarians have apparently sacrificed one of their own,and not just anybody,but one of the masterminds of the genocide against Bosnians,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic himself!Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic,63,eluded justice for 13 years by hiding in plain site in the capital of the genocidal Serbia - Belgrade.He grew a beard, worked in an alternative medicine clinic, and even gave lectures and had his own website.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, former political leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, was allegedly arrested Monday in a Belgrade suburb.
Photographs apparently taken in the past few years show him with long white hair with a black streak in the middle, a flowing white beard and large glasses.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic as the world remembers him during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, right, and as the bearded and bespectacled "Dr Dabic" ,left.Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic has been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic went unnoticed as a regular magazine contributer in the capital of the genocidal Serbia - Belgrade.Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic has been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians.
In disguise: former leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic in the capital of the genocidal Serbia after growing his hair and beard.Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic has been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians.
Using the alias Dragan Dabic,he managed to live what seems to have been a relatively normal life while rumours circulated that he was hiding out in mountain caves and monasteries in remote eastern Bosnia.
The editor of Belgrade's "Healthy Life" magazine, Goran Kojic,said Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic,using his false name, was even a regular contributor to the publication.
"It never even occurred to me that this man with a long white beard and hair was Karadzic," Kojic said.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, who is a trained psychiatrist, even had a website that, as of Wednesday morning, was still online: http://www.psy-help-energy.com.(Click here to see a screenshot of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's website).He apparently sold new-age health aids related to "human quantum energy." Images on the website show strange metallic objects connected by wires or strings.
During the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic masterminded the infamous "siege of Sarajevo." He has been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians.
On Tuesday morning, Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was questioned and ordered to be deported to The Hague.However, his lawyers have three days to appeal the ruling.
"This tribunal welcomed and was very happy to hear about Karadzic's arrest yesterday in Serbia and we are ready and hopeful he is transferred to The Hague detention facilities as soon as possible," Nerma Jelacic, of the International War Crimes Tribunal, said.
Among the worst crimes Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic is charged with is the mass murder of some 10,000 Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995 - the largest massacre in Europe since the Second World War.
If Karadzic's extradition is approved, he will still have the opportunity to appeal the ruling - a move that could delay his transfer by days or weeks.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was nabbed in a raid in a Belgrade suburb after police monitored his behaviour for weeks. However, other reports said he was arrested Friday while waiting for a bus.
"He just said that these people showed him a police badge and than he was taken to some place and kept in the room. And that is absolutely against the law what they did," his lawyer Sveta Vujacic said.
In response to his arrest, Bosnians jammed the streets of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo early Tuesday in celebration. Not even an unseasonal thunderstorm and cloudburst could dampen their celebrations.
When word came through that Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic had been arrested in Belgrade on foot of a warrant from the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, hundreds of Sarajevans took to the streets of their still battered and bruised city and celebrated into the small hours.
The thunder and rain came at about 11pm on Monday - about the same time that news filtered through that Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic had been caught. Hundreds took to the streets of Sarajevo and converged on Freedom Square honking horns, cheering and shouting their joy until well after 3am.
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, a Montenegro-born psychiatrist of humble origin,together with Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic inflicted unfathomable horrors on the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, as well many other parts of Bosnia and parts of Croatia.
Indicted for multiple war crimes, the pair evaded arrest for 13 years. While Mladic remains at large, Karadzic can expect shortly to be in The Hague.
A Bosnian woman reads the Bosnian daily newspaper Dnevni Avaz, headlined "KARADZIC UHAPSEN" ("KARADZIC ARRESTED") and showing a photograph of former political leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia on the front page, in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, on Tuesday, July 22, 2008.
Bosnians celebrate on a street in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, early Tuesday, July 22, 2008. The streets of Sarajevo are jammed with honking cars and chanting crowds as Bosnians celebrate the arrest of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic,charged with genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Ernad Deni Comaga (21),an activist with Bosnia's Democratic Youth Movement, was happy at the turn of events: "It is like a little piece of freedom come back into Bosnia."
Irena Cetin was more circumspect, still bearing personal scars from the Serbian 43-month siege and shelling of Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia. "There is no justice here," she said. "This will not change anything." Like many Sarajevans, her background is ethnically mixed - her mother was an orthodox Christian, her father a Roman Catholic. Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, she said, was responsible for "everything that happened to me".
"I lost my father," she explained. "We went to find some trees [ during the siege]. I was with him when the grenade exploded. He was killed and so were others but I was the only one not hurt by it." That was in August 1993, and there is a tear now in her left eye. She turns away.
Analysts with the European Union Force in Bosnia (EUFOR) are monitoring reaction but are hopeful there will not be any backlash in the genocidal Serbian creature in bosnia "RS".
"There's always a danger there could be a backlash from the right-wing chetnik [ extreme Serbian fascist] element," said one analyst, "but on a scale of one to 10, I'd rate it around one or two."
Many Sarajevans look back on the war and remember that no one came to help them as they were being bombed from the hills above the city or picked off by the genocidal Serbian aggressor's snipers. They have few expectations.
"Is this possible?" asked Minka, a pensioner, hurrying to the market yesterday. "I simply cannot believe it."
"Whatever lies behind his arrest is now unimportant," said Monja Matovic (24). "The arrest itself is significant for all of us who have been through the war and suffering." A flag draped around his shoulders, Ernad Deni Comaga looks to the future, to recreating the multi-ethnic Sarajevo that used to be.
"Justice will be done for all of us in Bosnia when all the people around the world, the people who left, who are in exile, come back here - Bosnian, Serbian people and Croatian people - when they all come back home and live together without hate and violence."
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's arrest and trial at The Hague is a major condition for the genocidal Serbia's European Union membership.
"What's significant here is that it's the Serbian government itself that has arrested him and is surrendering him to the tribunal," Payam Akhavan, a former war crimes prosecutor at The Hague, said.
He called it "a good day for international justice" and said the arrest sends a strong message to other tyrannical leaders that war criminals will be brought to justice.
VIDEO: Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic to face genocide charges - Al Jazeera
VIDEO: Footage of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic in disguise emerges
Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's 15 international war trial charges include the following:
- six counts of genocide and complicity in genocide (in Srebrenica and elsewhere in Bosnia)
- two counts of crimes against humanity
- one count of violations of the laws or customs of war
- one count of a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions governing wartime conduct
- one count of persecution
- two counts of deportations and other inhumane acts
- one count of inflicting terror upon civilians
- one count of taking hostages
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Monday, July 21, 2008
BOSNIAN STATE COURT SHOULD TRY SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL BILJANA PLAVSIC FOR GENOCIDE
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 21,2008) - Prisons in Sweden are famous for their "enlightened" attitude towards inmates – hardly surprising given that the country’s human rights standards are the best in the world.
But the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, a former political leader of the Serbian living in Bosnia and the first woman sentenced for war crimes at International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), might disagree.
Ever since she was transferred from The Hague to the Hinseberg Prison for Women, Sweden's only national prison for females, her letters have been full of complaints, some quite bizarre – air-conditioning too strong, a birthday cake presented to her by wardens not big enough.
In January 2007, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic asked the Swedish government for an amnesty. Although that request was declined, she did not give up. Just two weeks ago,she had tried again. The tribunal and the Swedish government are yet to respond.
The Plavsic case should serve as a lesson for future plea agreements at the war crimes chamber of the Bosnian State Court. Like the tribunal, this has no mechanisms for punishing those war criminals who admit their guilt and then, after receiving minor sentences, protest their innocence.
Following her plea agreement with Hague prosecutors in 2002, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic accepted partial responsibility for war crimes committed by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, including one count of persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds.
She made a formal apology and was subsequently sentenced to only 11 years in prison in 2003. Crucially, prosecutors dropped genocide charges against her.
While Plavsic pleaded guilty and showed repentance at her trial, her subsequent protestations of innocence and requests for amnesty tell a very different story.
In her recently published memoirs, “Hunt: Me and War Criminals”, former Hague chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic claimed to be innocent to tribunal prosecutors after she was sentenced.
Shortly after her conviction, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic said her repentance for her war crimes was false – a show to deceive the Hague prosecutors and judges, as well as the Bosnian public.
Indeed, in her book, Del Ponte admits that she should never have relied on Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s honesty.
Unfortunately, there is nothing the tribunal can do about that.
A close examination of the chain of events that led to the deal between Hague prosecutors and Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic could be instructive for the Bosnian State Court and help it avoid making the same mistakes.
As part of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s plea deal, she laid the blame for the genocide committed during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia on the late former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, and on former leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, on the other hand, only “supported and endorsed” the genocidal objective.
In a statement, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic admitted to the Court that she was repeatedly told about crimes against Bosnian civilians, yet she refused to accept they happened.
“Our leadership, of which I was a necessary part, led an effort which victimised countless innocent people,” she admitted.
Even though the media reported her plea favourably, emphasising the positive role her admission of guilt could play in the reconciliation process, there were some who doubted her honesty. Her apology was certainly too little, too late for the Bosnian genocide victims’ associations.
The sceptics were proven right. Her later claims of innocence and requests for amnesty show the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic has not come to terms with what she did, nor accepted her punishment.
So where did the Hague prosecutors go wrong?
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic plea agreement was a clumsy combination of retributive and restorative justice. The retributive part, or the punishment, was reduced by the restorative part – her apology and the potential for reconciliation this could bring.
Theoreticians believe there are three steps necessary for restorative justice to be valid.
The first is for the criminal to understand the consequences of their actions and feel truly guilty; secondly, show a desire to repair the damage done; and, thirdly, accept punishment willingly.
In Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s case, the first condition appeared to be met when she made her apology in the ICTY courtroom. However, this principle was violated when prosecutors agreed to drop the genocide charges against her.
The natural second step would be for her to call for multiculturalism across Bosnia. The genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" emerged partly as a result of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s participation in the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic
Therefore, if the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic wanted to redeem herself, it would be reasonable to expect that while she was in prison she should send messages calling for peace and multiculturalism and warning about the dangers of Serbian fascism – which she has not done.
Finally, she should serve her shamefully low 11-year sentence with dignity and without complaints. This is not happening.
If Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic did not accept responsibility and did not truly repent, why then did she bother to apologise at all? Some analysts see part of the answer in the wording of her apology.
“I came for two reasons: to confront these charges and to spare my people, for it was clear that they would pay the price of any refusal to come,” she said at the time.
Some believe this implied that she wanted to avoid the sanctions the international community was threatening to impose on the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" if it refused to cooperate with the tribunal.
A greater insight into Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s psyche can be found in “I Testify”, or "Svedocim", the lengthy volume Plavsic wrote in prison and published in 2005.
The book is full of extreme fascist messages in line with her wartime rhetoric, and its content flies in face of her agreement with Hague prosecutors.
In one of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic's most infamous statements, published in 1993 by the Belgrade weekly magazine Svet, she said Bosnians were “genetically spoiled material” which justified their destruction.
In I Testify, she speaks about sacrificing herself for the Serbian people, suggesting that she only pleaded guilty to save the Serbian people from the burden of collective guilt.
It is curious that nobody from the ICTY has ever commented on her book – despite the fact that its contents contradict the statement she made following her plea agreement, in which she gave up her right to claim innocence.
Del Ponte’s memoirs reveal more of what happened during negotiations for Plavsic’s plea agreement.
At the time, she said, her office was surprised to hear from the accused’s lawyers that she was willing to plead guilty – but not to the count of genocide. Now it seems clear that Del Ponte accepted this deal too readily.
In her book, Del Ponte writes that although Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic promised to testify against Serbian war criminal Momcilo Krajisnik who is also a former leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, she changed her mind after she moved from the Hague detention unit to the Swedish prison.
“Dressed in a stiff tweed skirt, like a proper British lady, [Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic] informed me that she was a doctor of biology and proceeded to describe the superiority of the Serbian people. Her nonsense was nauseating, and I brought the meeting to an end. I wanted to seek life imprisonment against her,” said Del Ponte.
Now it seems the former prosecutor should have trusted her first impressions.
While Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic promised verbally to testify against other Serbian war criminals, she refused to put it in writing.
“I had felt that my personal contact with Plavsic, despite her racial-superiority claptrap, had been so cordial that I could trust her,” said Del Ponte, admitting this was an error.
In her book, Del Ponte describes trying to rectify the situation.
“We must advise the Trial Chamber of what Mrs Plavsic is now saying,” Del Ponte told her team, at some point following Plavsic’s volte face. “Let's present a motion to the court to put Biljana Plavsic on trial.”
In the former prosecutor’s memoirs, she recalls sending a motion to the tribunal president – although does not say when this took place. However, he apparently returned it, saying he lacked jurisdiction.
She then sent the same motion to the trial chamber that accepted the plea.
“I still await their response,” she wrote.
As the court’s deadline of 2010 draws closers, Del Ponte continues to wait for an answer.
However, there might be a job here for the Bosnian State Court. While it is not possible to charge someone for the same crimes twice, the fact that the genocide charges against Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic were dropped could open the door for a new indictment against her.
If the judges in The Hague were to find that she violated her plea agreement, there is a real possibility for re-opening her genocide case at the Bosnian State Court.
It seems increasingly unlikely that Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic or Ratko Mladic (who are charged with genocide by the ICTY) are ever going to see the inside of an ICTY courtroom.
Since Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic was the highest-ranking politician of the Serbians living in Bosnia to stand trial at The Hague, it would be a right thing for the justice process to try her for all crimes she was suspected of having committed,including the crime of genocide.
It would replace the ICTY’s ill-advised restorative principle with the proper retributive justice Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic deserves.
.
But the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, a former political leader of the Serbian living in Bosnia and the first woman sentenced for war crimes at International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), might disagree.
Ever since she was transferred from The Hague to the Hinseberg Prison for Women, Sweden's only national prison for females, her letters have been full of complaints, some quite bizarre – air-conditioning too strong, a birthday cake presented to her by wardens not big enough.
In January 2007, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic asked the Swedish government for an amnesty. Although that request was declined, she did not give up. Just two weeks ago,she had tried again. The tribunal and the Swedish government are yet to respond.
The Plavsic case should serve as a lesson for future plea agreements at the war crimes chamber of the Bosnian State Court. Like the tribunal, this has no mechanisms for punishing those war criminals who admit their guilt and then, after receiving minor sentences, protest their innocence.
Following her plea agreement with Hague prosecutors in 2002, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic accepted partial responsibility for war crimes committed by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, including one count of persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds.
She made a formal apology and was subsequently sentenced to only 11 years in prison in 2003. Crucially, prosecutors dropped genocide charges against her.
While Plavsic pleaded guilty and showed repentance at her trial, her subsequent protestations of innocence and requests for amnesty tell a very different story.
In her recently published memoirs, “Hunt: Me and War Criminals”, former Hague chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic claimed to be innocent to tribunal prosecutors after she was sentenced.
Shortly after her conviction, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic said her repentance for her war crimes was false – a show to deceive the Hague prosecutors and judges, as well as the Bosnian public.
Indeed, in her book, Del Ponte admits that she should never have relied on Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s honesty.
Unfortunately, there is nothing the tribunal can do about that.
A close examination of the chain of events that led to the deal between Hague prosecutors and Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic could be instructive for the Bosnian State Court and help it avoid making the same mistakes.
As part of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s plea deal, she laid the blame for the genocide committed during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia on the late former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, and on former leaders of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic, on the other hand, only “supported and endorsed” the genocidal objective.
In a statement, Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic admitted to the Court that she was repeatedly told about crimes against Bosnian civilians, yet she refused to accept they happened.
“Our leadership, of which I was a necessary part, led an effort which victimised countless innocent people,” she admitted.
Even though the media reported her plea favourably, emphasising the positive role her admission of guilt could play in the reconciliation process, there were some who doubted her honesty. Her apology was certainly too little, too late for the Bosnian genocide victims’ associations.
The sceptics were proven right. Her later claims of innocence and requests for amnesty show the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic has not come to terms with what she did, nor accepted her punishment.
So where did the Hague prosecutors go wrong?
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic plea agreement was a clumsy combination of retributive and restorative justice. The retributive part, or the punishment, was reduced by the restorative part – her apology and the potential for reconciliation this could bring.
Theoreticians believe there are three steps necessary for restorative justice to be valid.
The first is for the criminal to understand the consequences of their actions and feel truly guilty; secondly, show a desire to repair the damage done; and, thirdly, accept punishment willingly.
In Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s case, the first condition appeared to be met when she made her apology in the ICTY courtroom. However, this principle was violated when prosecutors agreed to drop the genocide charges against her.
The natural second step would be for her to call for multiculturalism across Bosnia. The genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" emerged partly as a result of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s participation in the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic
Therefore, if the convicted Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic wanted to redeem herself, it would be reasonable to expect that while she was in prison she should send messages calling for peace and multiculturalism and warning about the dangers of Serbian fascism – which she has not done.
Finally, she should serve her shamefully low 11-year sentence with dignity and without complaints. This is not happening.
If Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic did not accept responsibility and did not truly repent, why then did she bother to apologise at all? Some analysts see part of the answer in the wording of her apology.
“I came for two reasons: to confront these charges and to spare my people, for it was clear that they would pay the price of any refusal to come,” she said at the time.
Some believe this implied that she wanted to avoid the sanctions the international community was threatening to impose on the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" if it refused to cooperate with the tribunal.
A greater insight into Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic’s psyche can be found in “I Testify”, or "Svedocim", the lengthy volume Plavsic wrote in prison and published in 2005.
The book is full of extreme fascist messages in line with her wartime rhetoric, and its content flies in face of her agreement with Hague prosecutors.
In one of Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic's most infamous statements, published in 1993 by the Belgrade weekly magazine Svet, she said Bosnians were “genetically spoiled material” which justified their destruction.
In I Testify, she speaks about sacrificing herself for the Serbian people, suggesting that she only pleaded guilty to save the Serbian people from the burden of collective guilt.
It is curious that nobody from the ICTY has ever commented on her book – despite the fact that its contents contradict the statement she made following her plea agreement, in which she gave up her right to claim innocence.
Del Ponte’s memoirs reveal more of what happened during negotiations for Plavsic’s plea agreement.
At the time, she said, her office was surprised to hear from the accused’s lawyers that she was willing to plead guilty – but not to the count of genocide. Now it seems clear that Del Ponte accepted this deal too readily.
In her book, Del Ponte writes that although Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic promised to testify against Serbian war criminal Momcilo Krajisnik who is also a former leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, she changed her mind after she moved from the Hague detention unit to the Swedish prison.
“Dressed in a stiff tweed skirt, like a proper British lady, [Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic] informed me that she was a doctor of biology and proceeded to describe the superiority of the Serbian people. Her nonsense was nauseating, and I brought the meeting to an end. I wanted to seek life imprisonment against her,” said Del Ponte.
Now it seems the former prosecutor should have trusted her first impressions.
While Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic promised verbally to testify against other Serbian war criminals, she refused to put it in writing.
“I had felt that my personal contact with Plavsic, despite her racial-superiority claptrap, had been so cordial that I could trust her,” said Del Ponte, admitting this was an error.
In her book, Del Ponte describes trying to rectify the situation.
“We must advise the Trial Chamber of what Mrs Plavsic is now saying,” Del Ponte told her team, at some point following Plavsic’s volte face. “Let's present a motion to the court to put Biljana Plavsic on trial.”
In the former prosecutor’s memoirs, she recalls sending a motion to the tribunal president – although does not say when this took place. However, he apparently returned it, saying he lacked jurisdiction.
She then sent the same motion to the trial chamber that accepted the plea.
“I still await their response,” she wrote.
As the court’s deadline of 2010 draws closers, Del Ponte continues to wait for an answer.
However, there might be a job here for the Bosnian State Court. While it is not possible to charge someone for the same crimes twice, the fact that the genocide charges against Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic were dropped could open the door for a new indictment against her.
If the judges in The Hague were to find that she violated her plea agreement, there is a real possibility for re-opening her genocide case at the Bosnian State Court.
It seems increasingly unlikely that Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic or Ratko Mladic (who are charged with genocide by the ICTY) are ever going to see the inside of an ICTY courtroom.
Since Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic was the highest-ranking politician of the Serbians living in Bosnia to stand trial at The Hague, it would be a right thing for the justice process to try her for all crimes she was suspected of having committed,including the crime of genocide.
It would replace the ICTY’s ill-advised restorative principle with the proper retributive justice Serbian war criminal Biljana Plavsic deserves.
.
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