Funny Handshake the Squirrel and the Rocketship
Radovan Karadzic was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for leading the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic in the courtroom for the reading of his verdict at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, The Netherlands Thursday March 24, 2016. Credit: Robin van Lonkhuijsen, Pool via AP
More than 20 years ago, he led the most brutal military campaign Europe's seen since World War II, killing thousands of people. Today, Radovan Karadzic starts paying for his crimes.
The former Bosnian Serb leader on Thursday was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United Nations tribunal in The Hague for leading the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.
Karadzic, 70, was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The decision was delivered 18 months after a five-year trial. The case is widely viewed as one of the most important war crime trials since World War II.
Arrested in 2008 after 11 years on the run, Karadzic is the most senior political figure to be tried and convicted over the violent collapse of Yugoslavia.
Live video streams from the courtroom showed Karadzic, aged with white hair and deep lines through his face, serious and unflinching as the verdict was read.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
In this photo taken on Sunday, March 20, 2016, senior forensic anthropologist Dragana Vucetic walks inside a facility where are more than 4,500 body-bags containing mortal remains recovered from mass graves wait to be identified, in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Credit: AP Photo/Amel Emric
"People were in flight, they were bussed out, columns were being ethnically cleansed."
Kwon said Karadzic used a campaign of sniping and shelling in targeting civilians as a way of furthering his political goals.Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon on Thursday said Karadzic is criminally responsible for murder, extermination, attacking civilians and terror for overseeing the deadly 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo during the country's brutal war from 1992 to 1995.
The judgment of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal said Karadzic was "instrumental" in the bombardment by Bosnian Serb forces.
The tribunal said he set out to kill "every able-bodied male" and systematically exterminate the Bosnian Muslim.
At least 100,000 people died during the fighting before a U.S.-brokered peace deal brought it to an end in 1995. His soldiers dumped most of the bodies in a mass grave.
British journalist Tim Judah, who covered the war for The Times and The Economist, recalled on Thursday some of what he witnessed in 1992.
"People were in flight, they were bussed out, columns were being ethnically cleansed," he told Mashable by phone from the UK.
At the start of war, he said, he was with another journalist driving through the village of Hranca en route to Sarajevo when he saw smoke rising. "We stopped, and all these Bosnian soldiers came down who'd shot people day before," he said. One of those shot to death was a 7-year-old girl, he remembered.
The village is listed in the U.N. indictment among those in which Karadzic conducted his brutal campaign. Judah said he was pleased to see it recognized.
The following images are graphic and some people might find them disturbing. They show the brutality of Karadzic's deadly campaign.
The bodies of Bosko Brkic, a Serb, and his Muslim girlfriend Admira Ismic, lie together in "no-man's land" between Bosnian Serb and government front lines in Sarajevo, after they were killed by a Serb sniper about six days earlier while trying to slip out of Sarajevo, May 1993. Credit: AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File
Refugee Ferida Osmanovic from Srebrenica is found hanged in a forest outside the U.N. base at Tuzla airport, July 14, 1995. Credit: AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File
In this Sunday, Feb. 4, 1996 file photo, skeletal remains of victims of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica lie on a hilltop just west of Srebrenica, Bosnia. Credit: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File
Karadzic was indicted in 1995, but evaded authorities until being captured in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2008. Law enforcement tracked him down after they discovered him posing as a New Age healer named Dr. Dragan Dabic, The Guardian reported at the time. He disguised himself by wearing a thick beard and shaggy hair.
Reactions to Thursday's verdict by those who lived through the war were mixed.
Some of those who lost loved ones in Sarajevo and Srebrenica told journalists after the sentencing that the trial brought back dark memories and that they were still angry about the atrocities.
Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab)
Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab)
Some residents of Belgrade criticized it, saying they did not trust the U.N. war crimes tribunal.
Retiree Bosko Solic told The Associated Press: "This is a fascist decision!" He added that "there is no justice and [Karadzic] was convicted for nothing."
"Speech that incites hatred, discrimination and violence is an inflammable force."
Karadzic's lawyer Peter Robinson said he was shocked by the verdict. One of his legal advisers said he will file an appeal.
The U.N.'s top human rights official said in a statement that Karadzic's conviction is "hugely significant" and should warn other leaders against seeking to "scapegoat minorities for broader social ills."
"This historic verdict should be a turning-point," said Zeid Raad al-Hussein.
"It is time now to ensure that his poisonous legacy does not continue to burden the people of the former Yugoslavia with deeply-felt grievances, secrecy and lies," he said.
"Speech that incites hatred, discrimination and violence is an inflammable force," he added.
Read the summary of the United Nations tribunal judgement below.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
By signing up to the Mashable newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from Mashable that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content.
Source: https://mashable.com/article/bosnia-sradovan-karadzic-guilty-war-crime
0 Response to "Funny Handshake the Squirrel and the Rocketship"
Enregistrer un commentaire