Genocide Charge Reinstated Against Wartime Leader of the Bosnian Serbs
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Version 0 of 1. PARIS — Appeals judges at a United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Thursday reinstated a genocide charge against the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, reversing a decision by a lower court last year. Thursday’s ruling means that Mr. Karadzic will once again be facing two genocide charges for much of the brutal campaign across large parts of Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war that aimed to create lands for Serbs only. The lower court that is now trying Mr. Karadzic has said the entire campaign was clearly criminal, but last year it said that it found no evidence of genocide, except during the notorious Srebrenica massacre in 1995. The appeals ruling, read out at a public session of the court, appeared specifically timed to coincide with the day’s events in Bosnia. Tens of thousands gathered in Srebrenica on Thursday to commemorate the fall of the United Nations-protected enclave there on July 11, 1995, and the subsequent execution of more than 7,000 captured men and boys. Part of the day’s ceremonies included the reburial of 409 bodies at a special cemetery where remains from multiple mass graves are reinterred as they are identified. By scheduling the hearing on what has become a sacred date for Bosnian Muslims, the presiding judge, Theodor Meron, seemed to want to send a message to the war’s survivors as he recited an usually long and gruesome list of atrocities committed against Muslim civilians and prisoners of war. The tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, with Judge Meron as its president, had recently drawn sharp criticism from Bosnian victims, legal experts and even judges for acquittals of senior Serbian commanders. Those commanders, while based in neighboring Serbia, held crucial positions during the Bosnian war that was largely planned, financed and supplied by Serbia. The acquittals have turned even longtime supporters in the Balkans against the tribunal. As he read the summary of the judges’ decision, Judge Meron said the trial chamber had erred in dropping the second genocide charge because there was enough evidence to suggest that Mr. Karadzic had genocidal intentions during a 1992 campaign aimed at expelling Muslims and Croats from areas claimed by Serbs. For example, the judge said, evidence presented during the trial showed that “in meetings with Karadzic ‘it had been decided that one-third of Muslims would be killed, one-third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave on their own’ and thus all Muslims would disappear from Bosnia.” The judge was quoting from the trial proceedings. Peter Robinson, an American lawyer who is the chief legal adviser to Mr. Karadzic, said by telephone from The Hague that his client was “disappointed with the result, and we will double our efforts to show there was no genocide across Bosnia.” Mr. Robinson said that Mr. Karadzic, who represents himself in court, will ask for additional time to call more witnesses to defend himself against the genocide charges. The trial began in late 2009, and the prosecution has rested its case. Mr. Karadzic and his team are now halfway through their allotted time of 300 hours. Mr. Robinson said the defense team had called 161 witnesses so far, all of whom had been cross-examined by Mr. Karadzic himself. He said the defense wanted to call a total of 300 people. The appeals ruling carries great symbolic importance for survivors and victims of the campaign during which Serbian forces and extremist gangs — from both Bosnia and Serbia — systematically occupied multiethnic villages and towns, drove non-Serbs from their homes, incinerated dwellings, churches and mosques and mistreated and starved thousands in improvised camps. In 1992, the height of the campaign, about 44,000 people were killed, almost half of the total of 100,000 people who died in the Bosnian war. The tribunal found evidence of atrocities in 20 municipalities, comprising many towns and villages, but Thursday’s ruling suggested that the violence could meet the definition of genocide in seven municipalities. The ruling addresses a question long debated by legal experts and human rights groups: Why was the large-scale killing of Muslims in one part of Bosnia — in and around Srebrenica — considered genocide, while the actions in other parts of Bosnia, where even larger numbers of civilians were deported, raped, persecuted and killed, were not? A verdict in Mr. Karadzic’s trial is not expected before 2015. |