Karadzic faces final Bosnia war crimes verdict

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will on Wednesday hear the final judgment on his role in the bloody conflict that tore his country apart a quarter of a century ago.

In one of the last remaining cases from the break-up of Yugoslavia, UN judges in The Hague will rule on his appeal against his 2016 conviction for genocide and war crimes, and his 40-year jail sentence.

Karadzic was notorious for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre where more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in the worst bloodletting on European soil since World War II.

Prosecutors have meanwhile asked for the 73-year-old’s sentence to be increased to life imprisonment. Wednesday’s ruling cannot be appealed.

“If he is not given a life sentence, the tribunal will have committed genocide against justice,” Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica victims’ association told reporters outside the tribunal, where a small group of relatives held banners and photos of the dead.

The ruling is due to start at 1300 GMT at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which deals with cases left over from now-defunct courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Karadzic, who has been in detention for 11 years, was “calm” ahead of the verdict, the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti quoted his brother Luka as saying.

“I spoke to Radovan two or three days ago, he is feeling good and he believes justice will be done,” his brother told the paper. “He has reawoken our hope that this trial will end well.”

The paper also published several cryptic “aphorisms” written by Radovan Karadzic including one which said: “A man who swallows his honour for breakfast may have something for dinner.”

– ‘Political trial’ –

A former psychiatrist and amateur poet turned brutal political leader, Karadzic was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade after nearly 13 years on the run during which he posed as a new age healer called Dragan Dabic.

In 2016, Karadzic was found guilty on 10 counts including orchestrating a nearly four-year siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, where more than 10,000 people died in a campaign of sniping and shelling, according to prosecutors.

He was also found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in eastern Bosnia, which was supposed to be under UN protection, and buried their bodies in mass graves.

Prosecutors want judges to reverse Karadzic’s acquittal on a second, more general charge of genocide in Bosnia’s municipalities.

They say Karadzic and others including his military alter-ego, former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, wanted to “permanently remove Muslims and Croats” from territory claimed by Bosnian Serbs at the time.

Karadzic has appealed the sentence on 50 grounds and accused judges of conducting a “political trial” against him.

Karadzic’s case still bitterly divides the country he helped drive to war, with widows of Srebrenica hoping he dies in prison even as Bosnian Serbs have honoured him with a university dorm in his name.

– ‘Handful of bones’ –

Families of the victims of Srebrenica will watch the verdict at the Women of Srebrenica association building in the town of Tuzla.

Hajrija Oric, 63, who arrived at the Srebrenica memorial centre to watch the verdict showed AFP photos on her mobile phone of her son 17-year-old son Elvir and husband Sahin who were both killed in the massacre.

Their remains were found years later and buried.

“My hope and my only thought is that (Karadzic) is sentenced to life,” she said.

“All I found was a handful of bones and head. I would give everything, I would give my eyes, if I could bring them back but it cannot happen.”

The case also comes at a crucial time for international courts as they come under attack from quarters including the administration of US President Donald Trump, and reel from a series of mistrials.

Karadzic’s lawyer Peter Robinson said his client “fervently believed that the Trial Chamber judgement was wrong and the product of an unfair trial”.

Karadzic represented himself at his trial, but has Robinson assisting him.

Ex-military chief Mladic, 76, dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia”, is currently appealing a life sentence on similar charges.

Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic’s long-time patron during the war, was on trial at the ICTY until his death in 2006.

burs-dk/hmw