“one of the world’s most wanted men”

photo credit: new york times

both of these men have been charged by the un with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed during the 1992-1995 bosnian war. most notably, they are charged with orchestrating and carrying out the 1995 srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 muslim men and boys were killed in the worst mass murder in europe since world war II.

the men are former bosnian serb army commander ratko mladic (left) and former bosnian serb political leader radovan karadzic (right). mladic is still at-large, but on monday, october 26th, karadzic, who has been described by the new york times as “one of the world’s most wanted men,” will go on trial at the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia (icty) in the hague to face the charges against him.

and i’ll be there to see it. on saturday morning, i’m heading out with a producer to drive up to the hague, where we’ll meet a crew from various other bureaus across europe. we’ll be conducting pre-trial interviews this weekend, as well as the trial itself on monday and tuesday – that is, if it actually goes forward…

on thursday, karadzic sent a letter to the icty telling the court that he would boycott his trial on monday, citing that he had too little time to prepare for it (he’s opted to represent himself in the courtroom). word from the icty is that the trial will go on as planned for monday morning. we’ll see what the judge decides to do if karadzic stays in the comfort of his prison cell instead of showing up.

for selfish reasons (the excitement of covering an international war criminal’s trial), i hope he shows. and while that is an extremely doubtful outcome, i hope he shows to satisfy something far more important than my own adrenaline rush. i hope he shows in order to bring some semblance of justice to the families and loved ones of the victims whose lives were lost due to reckless power and unthinkable acts.

“people are not little stones, or keys in someone’s pocket, that can be moved from one place to another just like that… therefore, we cannot precisely arrange for only serbs to stay in one part of the country while removing others painlessly. i do not know how … mr. karadzic will explain that to the world. that is genocide,” said mladic. 

and that blatant statement, karadzic, was coming from one of your old war buddies… i don’t know how you’ll explain what you did to the world either, but on monday you’ll have the chance.