24 Years Later and What is the Result? Yugoslavia Trials Fail to Meet Criteria of "Justice"
The US State Department approved commercial supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine. However, it’s only about one license for large-caliber sniper rifles for now. But the Ukrainian security forces seem to have gotten inspired by the prospect and brought down a hail of shells and mines on the neighborhoods of Donetsk. In Yasinovataya, two local residents were killed and 11 buildings were damaged, including a kindergarten. Washington is trying to resolve the conflict in its proved way again, by directly supporting one of the parties. It used a similar tactic, for example, in Yugoslavia, and not only during the conflict itself but also when it came to the trial of its participants. The court was called the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. But today, it was closed. However, in its 24 years, it managed to explain to the world the meaning of the so-called "selective justice".
Our European correspondent Anastasiya Popova about where the court has gone to.
All tribunal prosecutors, judges, and clerks were invited to the closing ceremony. The King of the Netherlands and the UN Secretary-General were among the honored guests. The memory of those killed during the war in Yugoslavia was honored with a minute of silence.
There wasn’t a word about those who died in the tribunal dungeons, although there were 17 of them. Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, who was accused of crimes against humanity, the genocide against Bosnian Muslims, the creation of concentration camps and deportation. He died of an extensive heart attack under circumstances that are still unclear. His opponent, prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, didn’t attend the closing ceremony.
In 2008, she made a scandalous confession about the selectivity of this institution. She wasn’t allowed to start a case against Albanians, who abducted Serbs and traded body organs. Moreover, it wasn’t only NATO forces which hindered the process.
Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor: "I remember we found a possible mass grave site, a mass grave in Albania. It was extremely important to get to the truth and find the rest of the mass graves. But we couldn’t go to Albania, as the authorities refused to cooperate with us. Anyway, we couldn’t continue the investigation we started."
The judge of the Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić happily sang at the ceremony. During the announcement of the verdict, he denied Mladić medical treatment, although he had a hypertensive crisis. He was taken out of the hall.
The general was given a life sentence for the events in Srebrenica, the siege of Sarajevo, and genocide.
Pauline Krikke, Mayor of The Hague: "On June 25, 1995, a 9-year-old girl Sidbella went outside in Sarajevo to take a walk with friends and was killed by a grenade thrown to the playground. We’re unlikely to find out who threw this grenade. But we know who is responsible for the siege of Sarajevo — Karadžić and Mladić".
People attending this private dinner are unlikely to have thought of a Croat Slobodan Praljak. The general, accused of torture and massacres of Bosnian Muslims, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Unconformable with the decision, he drank the poison and later died in a hospital.
Tribunal worked for 24 years in total. During this time, more than 150 trials were held. 90 sentences were passed, 60 of them against the Serbs. The remaining cases and appeals will be handled by a structure, specially created for this purpose by the UN Security Council.
Work methods of the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia still cause mixed feelings. An unjustifiably long trial conduction, an attitude towards the defendants which wasn’t always impartial, an ambivalent approach and a strong bias on ethnic grounds, as the majority of the convicted were Serbs.
However, perhaps, this was the mission of the tribunal. The closing ceremony was concluded with the champagne glasses clinking.
Anastasia Popova, Ilya Bernadsky, Vesti, The Hague, The Netherlands.