Radovan Karadzic, former President of Bosnia Serb, was finally arrested, 13 years after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued a warrant of arrest against him. I have to admit that he was a bit of a smart one. Hiding in Serbia and pretending to be a orthodox priest is much better than living in an underground hole, like his Iraqi counterpart. Karadzic's arrest should definitely send a strong message out to everyone else who is planning to commit one of the international crimes, that one can run (even for 13 years), but one cannot hide.
I am interested to see the effects this case will have, on the already heavy case load of the ICTY. The ICTY's mandate comes to an end in 2010 and should Karadzic plead not guilty, his trial will probably continue way beyond 2010. Also, should his partner in crime, Ratko Mladic, be apprehended before 2010, will this tribunal then ask for an extension of its mandate? Alternatively, would the case load be handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), considering that both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia are state parties to the ICC Statute?
On the other hand, presuming that this trial is finished before the tribunal's mandate comes to an end, it will be interesting to see the jurisprudence created by this tribunal, especially with regards to the genocide charges against Karadzic. Although this tribunal has the competency to hear cases involving genocide, it has only once convicted an accused (Jelisic) of committing genocide. Although 'ethnic cleansing' is not seen as another form of genocide, the academics have critised and indirectly placed pressure on the ICTY to convict ethnic cleansing as a form of genocide. Should Karadzic be found guilty of committing genocide, then such a verdict and the consequential jurisprudence thereof will definitely be welcomed.
The arrest of Karadzic and previous arrest of Milesovic really shows that its not just Africa's presidents or previous presidents that are always in trouble for committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. This statement is not meant to defend African leaders who committed these crimes, it is meant to show that its not just Africa's leaders who commit these crimes.
Just as another point of interest (that has nothing to do with legal/ political/ international relations issues), who of my readers have ever watched a movie of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia? I have watched one, but it was not directly on the atrocities committed, but more on capturing a 'war criminal' in the aftermath of the conflict, which was solely based on fiction. Now, who of you have watched a movie on atrocities in Africa? I have seen 'The last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs and Blood Diamond' which was movies that tried to stick to facts as far as possible. The latter were really good movies, but if the people are made more aware of the atrocious conflict that also happened in the former Yugoslavia, they will be able to truly understand the positive development the arrest of Karadzic has on the victims of this war (being mostly Muslim people).
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