[Breaking news update at 9:46]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia does not find evidence of “genocidal intent” on the part of Serbian forces during the war in Bosnia, the tribunal’s presiding judge, O-Gon Kwon, said Thursday while delivering a lengthy reading of verdicts in the war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic, former leader of the breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia.
The judge at the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, is delivering verdicts on 11 charges — including genocide and crimes against humanity — that Karadzic is accused of committing during the war from 1992 to 1995.
[Original story, last published at 9:39]
Two decades after the end of the Bosnian war, Radovan Karadzic is finally set to face justice.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will hand down a verdict in the war crimes trial of the former leader of the breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia for his role in the three-year conflict that’s estimated to have taken more than 100,000 lives.
The so-called “Butcher of Bosnia” faces 11 counts of war crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
The tribunal is an ad hoc court, situated in The Hague, Netherlands, that the United Nations established to prosecute serious crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
Between 1992 and 1995, while president of the so-called Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Karadzic’s troops were reported to have massacred over hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Croats during a campaign of “ethnic cleansing.”
It’s alleged he masterminded the notorious siege of Sarajevo in which more than 11,000 people died, and the Srebrenica massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys, the worst mass killing seen in Europe since World War II.
The 70-year-old faces a life sentence if convicted.
Karadzic’s road to the Hague has been a long one, marked by bizarre twists. He went into hiding in 1996 and was not arrested until 12 years later. When he emerged, he was heavily disguised by a white beard, long hair and spectacles.
Serb officials revealed that Karadzic had been hiding in plain sight — working in a clinic in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, under a false identity as a “healer.”
He was extradited to the Hague to face charges where he entered a not guilty plea. He initially tried to represent himself which led to delays in his trial but eventually had a lawyer imposed on him.
Thursday’s verdict comes more than a year after the end of his trial in 2014. The 500-day trial included evidence from 586 witnesses and more than 11,000 exhibits.
Karadzic’s former army chief Ratko Mladic, who was arrested in 2012, is also facing charges of genocide and war crimes committed during the conflict. A judgment is expected in 2017.