10 years since Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic convicted of genocide, war crimes
‘Butcher of Bosnia’ was sentenced to 40 years in 2016 before his term was increased to life imprisonment in 2019
SARAJEVO
Ten years have passed since Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic was convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by an international tribunal in The Hague on March 24, 2016.
Karadzic, widely known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his role during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which tens of thousands were killed, was initially sentenced to 40 years in prison on 10 counts before the sentence was increased to life imprisonment in 2019.
One of the principal political architects of genocide, massacres, ethnic cleansing, and systematic rape carried out by Serb forces against Bosnians, and responsible for the gravest war crimes in Europe since the end of World War II, Karadzic remained in hiding for years in Serbia under the name “Dragan David Dabic” despite an arrest warrant issued against him in 1995.
Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Karadzic was captured in 2008 on a bus in Belgrade after more than a decade in hiding following the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Serb forces committed acts amounting to genocide.
Lived for years hiding his identity
To avoid recognition, Karadzic drastically altered both his name and appearance. A photograph showing him with disheveled hair and a gaunt look drew widespread global media attention. After his capture, he was transferred to The Hague, Netherlands, to stand trial.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague sentenced Karadzic on March 24, 2016, to 40 years in prison for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
In 2019, the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague overturned the 40-year sentence handed down in 2016 on 10 counts and sentenced Karadzic to life imprisonment.
Karadzic, also held responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica, continues to serve his sentence.
Who is Radovan Karadzic, one of perpetrators of Bosnian War?
Karadzic was born on June 19, 1945, in the town of Petnjica, now within the borders of Montenegro.
After studying psychiatry at the University of Sarajevo, he worked for a period at Kosevo Hospital, the city’s largest medical facility.
He was among the founders of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), established in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1989, and shortly before the outbreak of the war became the first president of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska (RS).
Karadzic’s role in Bosnian War
On Dec. 21, 1991, the Serb assembly decided to establish the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a federal unit within Yugoslavia and to recognize the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
In line with this decision, the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared on Jan. 9, 1992.
At the time, Karadzic stated in a speech that “There is no one who will declare an independent Bosnia and Herzegovina further than the Kozija Cuprija (Kozje Bridge). On the Pale, that is Yugoslavia.”
Following a referendum held on Feb. 29-March 1, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina officially declared independence. Immediately afterward, the Yugoslav army under Serb control and Serb paramilitary forces launched an ethnic cleansing campaign against Muslim Bosnians.
Serb forces carried out ethnic cleansing against Muslim Bosnians
During the war, which lasted more than three and a half years in the heart of Europe, large-scale civilian massacres, torture, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and acts of genocide took place.
Forces under the command of Serb general Ratko Mladic killed at least 8,372 Bosnian civilians within just a few days in and around the eastern city of Srebrenica after occupying it on July 11, 1995.
In many cities, including Prijedor, Foca, Zvornik, and Visegrad, almost no Bosnians remained as a result of ethnic cleansing.
The war, in which hundreds of thousands lost their lives, millions were displaced, women were subjected to mass rape, and civilians were tortured in detention camps, ended with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on Nov. 21, 1995.
*Writing by Asiye Yilmaz in Istanbul
