Judge O-Gon Kwon said Karadzic was the only person in the Bosnian Serb leadership with the power to halt the genocide, but instead gave an order for prisoners to be transported from one location to another to be killed.
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The court said Karadzic, the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s, bore criminal responsibility for murder and persecution in the Bosnian conflict.
Among the main charges is that Karadžić, who was arrested in 2008 after 11 years on the run, controlled Serb forces that carried out the Srebrenica killings after overrunning the supposed UN-designated “safe area”. But psychologically, a life sentence would have a better effect, even if he only lasted two years.
“Overall, we are satisfied with the outcome”, Brammertz said.
“The Hague tribunal has once again shown that it is a political court, the politically-based verdicts were handed down to all Serb leaders from Serbia, (Bosnia’s autonomous) Republika Srpska and Croatia”, he said.
They further argue that it is a pro-Western instrument which is evident from the fact that the Tribunal failed to bring charges against two other leaders of that era who have since died – Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic.
In Sarajevo, Amra Misic, 49, said: “I took a day off to watch the verdict as I was waiting for this for 20 years”.
“Serbia will meet its obligations in full and use its rights under the Dayton Agreement, especially the right to support the RS and help it survive”, the president’s press office quoted Nikolic as saying in relation to “Radovan Karadzic’s verdict, especially his conviction of “genocide” in Srebrenica”.
The trial was the most important in the 23-year history of the United Nations.
Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president, died while in custody at the tribunal in 2005.
The judges said Karadzic was criminally responsible for the siege of Sarajevo and had committed crimes against humanity in Bosnian towns. The judgment in Seselj’s case is scheduled for next Thursday. At the time, he was posing as a New Age healer, Dr. Dragan Dabic, and was disguised by a thick beard and shaggy hair.
Karadzic defended himself during his trial, which started in 2009, denying the crimes and claiming he was a “man of peace”.
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‘Fugitives can not outrun the global community’s collective resolve to make sure that they face justice according to the law, ‘ the secretary-general said through his spokesperson.
