DID YOU KNOW? From 1992-1995, heavily militarized Serb villages around Srebrenica had been used to attack and terrorize Bosniak civilians - women, children, and elderly. Serbs never demilitarized around Srebrenica. Three years before the genocide, Serbs around Srebrenica attacked, captured, and then burned Bosnian Muslim women and children alive, VIEW PHOTOS HERE.

26 September, 2008

RADOVAN KARADZIC FACES TWO SEPARATE COUNTS OF GENOCIDE

Quick Summary: Radovan Karadzic will face two genocide charges - one count for Srebrenica Genocide, and the second count for broader charge of Bosnian Genocide affecting at least 10 other municipalities...

PHOTO: You're looking face of a Srebrenica Genocide architect, Radovan Karadzic (aka: Dragan David Dabic). The photo was taken during his initial courtroom appearance at the ICTY. Karadzic looked gaunt and tired, and he even shed few tears. In this photo, he is genuinely sorry for being brought to stand trial and face justice after 13 years on the run. Click here to see photos of his victims.

United Nations' prosecutors have filed a second genocide charge against Radovan Karadzic this week. In order to speed up the trial, the proposed indictment contains four amendments:

"First, the Prosecution has updated, clarified, and further particularized its legal and factual allegations relating to the Accused's individual responsibility. Second, the Prosecution has significantly narrowed the scope of criminal conduct underlying the charges. The Accused is no longer charged with any criminal conduct in relation to 14 municipalities; the indictment has been reduced from 41 to 27 municipalities. Third, the Prosecution has restructured the counts in the indictment and legally re-characterized certain underlying criminal conduct which was already charged in the Operative Indictment. Fourth, the Prosecution has provided more precise notice of the charges against the Accused, both in the factual pleadings contained in the body of the Proposed Indictment, and by way of seven schedules attached to the Proposed Indictment."

Previously, in the first amended indictment, Karadzic was charged with genocide (count 1) and complicity in genocide (count 2). Now, the complicity in genocide charge has been removed and the single count of genocide has been split into two counts of genocide, each of which relates to one of the two distinct periods and locations. Two separate counts of Genocide relate to 10 municipalities and Srebrenica. The single count of genocide originally related to two distinct time periods and geographic locations, namely between July 1st 1991 and December 1992 in various municipalities of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and between early March 1995 and November 1995 in Srebrenica area. The motion to amend the first amended indictment still waits for an approval by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague.

The prosecutors and judges are trying to avoid a lengthy trial like Slobodan Milosevic's, which lasted for four years and included nearly 300 witnesses without reaching a verdict on more than 60 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, because Milosevic died of a heart attack.

Victims (Editor's Pick):
Take a look at faces of Radovan Karadzic's victims
Focus on Concentration Camps in Bosnia

Indictment:
Motion to Amend the First Amended Indictment
The Prosecutor vs. Radovan Karadzic

posted by Srebrenica Genocide Blog Editor at 10:47 AM

1 Comments:

OpenID Owen said...

There is a basic problem illustrated here. The principle of justice needs criminals to be tried fairly and convicted. But when mass crimes have been committed it is possible that only a narrow sample of the charges can realistically be prosecuted.

That means that in order for there to be justice for the victims there has to be at least an official commission of enquiry to which evidence can be submitted. Where the abuses have been widespread and particularly where evidence has been concealed - eg mass graves and reburials - this may have to be a long term process.

The evidence submitted to a commission of this nature and the commission's findings could provide the basis for civil action claims in which the victims are able to hold the perpetrator to account for crimes not prosecuted by the justice system.

One way or another the legal system must respect the right of victims to an "effective remedy", as enshrined in Article Eight of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Justice must not be denied even though the forms in which it is administered may vary.

Saturday, September 27, 2008  

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