The arrest of Dr Karadzic is bad news for anyone interested in justice, as is anything which is perceived as giving credibility to the tribunal at the Hague. I make no comment on his guilt or innocence, not only because it’s inappropriate when someone is awaiting trial, which so many commentators forget, but because Yugoslavia, like Iraq, is somewhere about which so many lies have been told that it’s difficult to be confident of the truth of received wisdom, and especially of the true basis for demonisation of a people or individual.
In order for such a tribunal to deserve support, a number of conditions must be met – two in particular. One is that there should be at least a possibility of movement towards even-handed application of the law. The other is that trials should be fair (or at least that the tribunal should strive for fairness) and the verdicts not decided in advance of the trial.
The Hague tribunal fails both of these tests. Firstly, there is no possibility of a US President or a British Prime Minister or a NATO Secretary General being prosecuted, no matter what their crimes, nor is there any possibility of movement towards that end.
Secondly, although the occasional minor defendant may be acquitted, the Hague tribunal does not acquit big fish like Karadzic. Anyone who paid even cursory attention to the Milosevic trial cannot but have been shocked at the blatant bias of the judges and the ridiculous unfairness of the proceedings.
As for his death after being given inadequate time and resources to mount his defence, and then denied medical treatment for his heart problems, when it had become clear that even the corrupt judges of the tribunal would struggle to justify a guilty verdict on the evidence presented, there is plenty of commentary elsewhere. Suffice to say that Karadzic should be very afraid.
I am happy for people to correct me – but why is it that the Hague only ever appears to prosecute Serbians? During the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, surely some people from other “nationalities” or “groups” such as Croats, Slovenians and Bosnian Muslims must also have done dreadful things? ( Someone above mentioned the names: Tudjman, Haradinaj and Oric.) Perhaps Serbia is a special case due to its support from its fellow Slavs in Russia.
In addition, I believe that – under the careful ministering of NATO troops – there has been a certain amount of ethnic cleansing of Serbians in Kosovo by Albanians; so can we expect any Albanians to face trial in the Hague? I thought not. But what exactly are the prescribed evasions for this inconsistency?
