Still no sign of Radovan Karadzic
It's rather a strange feeling to be back in The Hague as my first trip after the holidays. I was here, rather fruitlessly awaiting Radovan Karadzic's arrival before my break began. I left before he arrived. Shorn of long hair and beard at his first appearance, he was given 30 days to enter a plea. If he doesn't, the judge will do it for him today. He has already challenged the appointed judge and got him changed.
Although he seems to be co-operating with the court more than his mentor Slobodan Milosevic, he maintains that this is a political court and that he won't get a fair trial. Some I speak to suggest that the rules of evidence and identification are slack and wouldn't do in Britain. But rules vary on such matters all over Europe and those in charge insist that the proceedings are fair.
But is there is a bigger problem with such courts? Karadzic himself has evidently said that "everybody in the world" thinks he is guilty. Few deny that the killings, rapes and torture took place and few deny they were a terrible wrong (some, of course, do and either claim they did not happen on such a scale or were a part of the conduct of war). Few deny that Karadzic was in political control although it's notoriously difficult to establish who gave what exact commands. Historians still discuss whether Hitler actually gave direct orders to instigate the Holocaust even though it was pretty obvious for years beforehand where Nazi policy would lead. Whatever plea Karadzic enters, is anyone in any doubt about the verdict?
More when he appears.
I’m Mark Mardell, the BBC's North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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Mark,
In a way your final sentence is the most telling feature of this article.
Whatever plea is entered for Karadzic, are the rules of evidence within this Tribunal such that he is"innocent until proven guilty?"
I have no doubt of his guilt but then I am neither his Prosecutor nor his Judge.
As the US, Russia and China (nor Iran, Israel or many other countries) do not recognise the jurisprudence of the International Court system, are these Tribunals worth their cost, purpose and pretentiousness?
Are these Tribunals an anachronism in the 21st Century as Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing is almost a natural cause or consequence of modern warfare and, in fact, if the current Russian practice of economic warfare simply by destruction of infrastructure in Georgia is anything to go by, it would seem that occupying a country to invoke regime change by simply destroying people's livelihoods and beasting them back to the stone age seems to be a viable form of warfare.
Does this not devalue the purpose of International Law as the weight of law cannot be applied equally to all nations of the world?
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historians will look back and say they know what policy the EU is all about and was forced in to being by force not democracy without the consent of the people.But probally by that time it would be a hanging offence to call the eu
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I have never really understood why there is this requirement for those at the top to give positive orders in order for them to be convicted.
Maybe he could claim he did not know what was going on but that does not seem credible.
If he did know (even nonspecifically) what was going on and did nothing about it - is that sufficient to convict him ?
Anyone know ?
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Mark,
I’ll try again as the Moderators seem to have had my Comment at #1 for so long it must have got eaten for their late breakfast?
In a way your final sentence of your penultimate paragraph is the most incisive statement of this article.
Whatever plea is entered for Karadzic, are the rules of evidence in these Tribunal Hearings such that he is"innocent until proven guilty?"
I have no doubt of Karadzic’s guilt but then I am neither his Prosecutor nor his Judge. Is there anyone who is that dispassionate about Karadzic and his alleged war crimes that could be trusted not to be biased when determining his innocence or guilt?
As the US, Russia and China (nor Iran, Israel or many other countries) do not recognise the jurisprudence of the International Court system, are these Tribunals worth their cost, purpose and pretentiousness?
Are these Tribunals an anachronism in the 21st Century as genocide and ethnic cleansing is almost a natural cause or consequence of modern warfare and, in fact, if the current Russian practice of economic warfare simply by destruction of infrastructure in Georgia is anything to go by, it would seem that occupying a country to invoke regime change by simply destroying people's livelihoods and beasting them back to the stone age seems to be a viable and accepted form of warfare.
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of course we all know he is guilty. unfortunately, too much precaution, perhaps just for the sake of justifying the existence of an obese and expensive judicial system, sometimes seems diluting the hell itself.
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He feels that he won't get a fair trial?? Did the thousands of Muslims that he slaughtered get a fair trial?
Hang him! Too many of his kind in the world.
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@ Menedemus, #4
Didn't Russia learn a lesson from those colonial crooks NATO when they leveled Serbia with the ground for three months, killing civilians, destroying bridges, buildings, roads and TV stations, all nicely planned and executed (even the Chinese embassy got a little feel of NATO peace mission)? NATO is the biggest evil on this planet and it is not a guarantor of peace, rather, it is a cowardly colonial force mostly made of a group of individually impotent national armies, usually going against small and poor nations. And yes, Karadzic will not get a fair trial in this NATO court which by the way Americans don't even recognize (but they do sponsor it - what an absurd!!!). He should've been tried in Serbia where he would indeed end up in prison for a very long time if the evidence was there and at the same time Serbs would get a cathartic process which would help them come to terms with what happened in the nineties. Blindness and lack of wise decision making on behalf of the historically egotistical and manipulative "western" politicians is very much evident!
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No matter whether he is guilty or innocent, there is no chance of Karadzic getting a fair trail at the Hague.
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Hi Mark:
I know that feeling of not seeing a sign of Radovan Karadzic...He has the right to have his day in the court....
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Regarding the question of whether he is guilty only if he actually ordered the massacres or whether it is sufficient that he knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it: in many countries (e.g. Germany) you are breaking the law if you see someone lying in the street having a heart attack and don't make some attempt to call an ambulance, i.e. it is a crime to fail to prevent a death if you are in a position to do something about it. I'm not sure though whether these rules apply in the Hague..?
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Apparently, the BBC doesn't like it if you tell the truth about muslim atrocities in the Yugoslav break-up wars.
BBC's motto: portray fascist cult islam as something peaceful, and censor everyone who doesn't agree.
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Mark, why do you believe that it's impossible for experienced judges to distance themselves from their point of view and weigh the arguments and the evidence? You seem to be saying that no-one can ever manage to overcome their own preconceptions. Surely that's a dangerous stance for a correspondent to adopt?
And whatever mcd-1975 may say about your and the BBC's reporting, 85% of civilian victims of the war in Bosnia were Bosniaks. Of course Serbs, Croats and others were killed, but that gives an indication of where the substance of the violence lay.
It's sad for Serbia that these cynical efforts to offload responsibility for what happened never end.
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