Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžić is a prominent figure in the history of the Bosnian War, having served as the first president of the Bosnian Serb administration from 1992 to 1996. Born in 1945 in Montenegro, he later moved to Sarajevo to pursue a career in psychiatry, where he became involved in poetry and politics, eventually co-founding the Serbian Democratic Party. Following Bosnia-Herzegovina’s declaration of independence in 1992, Karadžić led a campaign that resulted in widespread ethnic cleansing, particularly against Bosnian Muslims and Croats, contributing to the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions. He was indicted for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and became a fugitive for several years before his arrest in 2008.
Karadžić's trial began in 2009 and lasted for about five years, during which he maintained that his actions were intended to protect the Serbian population. In 2016, he was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years in prison, a sentence that was later increased to life imprisonment. His case highlights the complexities of wartime leadership and the long-lasting impacts of conflict in the region, with estimates indicating that over 100,000 people lost their lives during the war, significantly affecting the fabric of Bosnian society. The legacy of Karadžić remains contentious, with ongoing discussions about justice, accountability, and the reconciliation process in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Radovan Karadžić
- Born: June 19, 1945
- Place of Birth: Petnjica, Montenegro, Yugoslavia (now in Montenegro)
Early Life
Politician Radovan Karadžić was born in the mountainous village of Petnjica, near Šavnik, Montenegro, in what was then Yugoslavia. His father, Vuko, had been a member of the army of the anticommunist kingdom of Yugoslavia, which fought against the Communist leader Josip Broz Tito; as a result, Vuko spent the majority of Karadžić’s childhood in prison. Karadžić’s mother, Jovanka, raised her son alone.
In 1960, Karadžić moved to Sarajevo, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to study psychiatry. He met his wife, Ljiljana, there. After graduating, he worked as a doctor in the psychiatric unit of the Kosevo Hospital. During his time in Sarajevo, Karadžić became immersed in poetry, writing it himself and also following the nationalistic writer Dobrica Ćosić. He developed a friendship with Ćosić, who convinced him to enter politics.
Political Career
In 1989, after working briefly with the Green Party, Karadžić cofounded the Serbian Democratic Party (Srpska Demokratska Stranka) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The party’s goal was to bring together the republic’s Serbian population and protect its culture and interests.
On March 3, 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina (later renamed the Serb Republic of Bosnia, or Republika Srpska) declared its independence and was recognized by the United Nations (UN) as an independent state on April 6, 1992. Karadžić became the first president of the Bosnian Serb administration on May 13, 1992. The freshly drafted Bosnian Serb constitution gave Karadžić command of the army and the authority to appoint and discharge its officers.
Karadžić used his power to begin a campaign to demoralize and terrorize the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat populations. His armies forced non-Serbs to leave areas deemed important to the new Serb republic. Those who did not leave on their own were forcibly deported, placed in squalid refugee camps, or murdered.
Between April 1992 and November 1995, Karadžić’s troops attacked Sarajevo. Thousands of civilians, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were killed by constant bombings and sniper fire. Those who survived had to live without utilities and could venture out of their shelters only at great risk to seek water and supplies.
In 1993, the United Nations established an international war crimes tribunal to indict and prosecute those accused of crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia. Refugees, meanwhile, sought safety in rural border areas of Bosnia, which the United Nations had declared as security zones in April 1993. These areas included Srebrenica, Zepa, Goražde, and Tuzla.
Between May 26 and June 2, 1995, Karadžić ordered his army to detain two hundred military observers and UN peacekeepers in Pale and Sarajevo in retaliation against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air strikes. The hostages were held in key military sites as human shields to protect buildings from additional NATO strikes.
On July 6, 1995, Karadžić ordered his troops to raid the security zones and attack the UN observation posts. By July 12, the army had carried out a mass slaughter of civilians. An estimated fifteen thousand refugees, mostly men, attempted to flee the horrors but were summarily executed. Those who were spared were forced into detention camps where physical, psychological, and sexual abuse was constant. Thousands died at the hands of the camp guards or were executed en masse.
The United Nations estimated that Karadžić’s forces were responsible for the deaths of at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica alone in 1995. Faced with growing international pressure, war crimes indictments issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and impending Western sanctions, Karadžić was forced to resign his position in 1996.
Legal Action and Outcome
After he was indicted for war crimes and genocide, Karadžić became a fugitive. The indictment charged him with two counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity, three counts of violations of the laws or customs of war, and one count of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. He was also charged with the shelling of Sarajevo and using UN peacekeepers as human shields in 1995.
Karadžić denied all charges made against him and refused to recognize the UN tribunal as having any power. The United States government offered $5 million for Karadžić’s arrest.
In 2005, the Bosnian Serb government made a plea for Karadžić’s surrender. The officials stated that as long as he was a fugitive, their country would not be able to advance economically, politically, or psychologically. Because Karadžić and other war criminals remained fugitives, integration talks between Serbia and the European community ceased in 2006. For his ability to remain a fugitive, Karadžić became something of a folk hero, with many Bosnian Serb supporters. They maintained that Karadžić was no more guilty of criminal acts than any other wartime leader and held public demonstrations in support of him.
By the fall of 2006, an international arrest warrant had been issued for Karadžić, following Rule 61 of the ICTY in The Hague. Karadžić was accused of ordering his army to enact the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Muslims and Croats.
In July 2008, Serbian security forces located and arrested him in Belgrade, where he had been living under a false identity, causing cheers to erupt among the people of Sarajevo as well as world leaders. While two of Karadžić's main accomplices remained at large, including military commander Ratko Mladic, his trial before the ICTY began in the fall of 2009. Karadžić insisted on serving as his own legal counsel. He initially boycotted the proceedings and challenged the legitimacy of the tribunal, but the trial moved forward and lasted for about five years; he maintained throughout that his actions were based on the intent to protect Serbs during the Bosnian civil war. In March 2016, the tribunal found him guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to forty years in prison. While many were pleased with the outcome, others felt that the sentence was too light, especially given that he had already served time and others sentenced by the tribunal had been released early.
Karadžić appealed the verdict, but the decision was upheld in 2019. Furthermore, the UN tribunal increased his sentence from four decades to life. In 2021, he was transferred to a prison in the United Kingdom.
Impact
In 2004, a Norwegian news agency produced a report stating that the Bosnia-Herzegovina war resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 people, more than half of whom were civilians. These findings exclude those who died of indirect causes such as starvation, exposure, and lack of medical attention. A study by the Sarajevo Research and Documentation Center leaned toward a higher death count of 150,000. About 2.2 million were left homeless by the conflict. The crimes against humanity that Karadžić inflicted upon non-Serb populations virtually destroyed a generation and left survivors both homeless and fearful.
In 2004, the Srebrenica Commission issued its final report detailing the atrocities Karadžić and his administration committed. In response, Republika Srpska issued an apology for the Srebrenica massacre.
Bibliography
Dormann, Knut. Elements of War Crimes Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Cambridge UP, 2003.
Grierson, Jamie, and Julian Borger. "Radovan Karadžić to Serve Rest of Sentence in British Prison." The Guardian, 12 May 2021, www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/12/radovan-karadzic-to-serve-rest-of-sentence-in-british-prison. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
Gutman, Roy. Crimes of War. W. W. Norton, 1999.
Honig, Jan Willem. Srebrenica: Record of a War Crime. Penguin Books, 1997.
Simons, Marlise. "Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian Serb, Is Convicted of Genocide." The New York Times, 24 Mar. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/world/europe/radovan-karadzic-verdict.html. Accessed 17 Mar. 2017.
Traynor, Ian. "Radovan Karadzic Genocide Trial Begins at UN Tribunal." The Guardian, 25 Oct. 2009, www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/26/radovan-karadzic-un-tribunal-trial. Accessed 17 Mar. 2017.