War criminal's escape to Belgrade suggests Serbian role in Bosnia war: Academic

SARAJEVO (AA) - The fact that Radovan Karadzic, a convicted war criminal and mastermind of the Bosnian genocide, hid in Belgrade is evidence of Serbia's role in the war, genocide, and other crimes, according to a Bosnian academic.

It has been 14 years since Karadzic, one of those responsible for the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was captured in Serbia's capital Belgrade, but not before executing the most well-documented and widely known genocide and crimes against humanity in Europe after World War II.

Karadzic was held responsible for many crimes including genocide, massacres, ethnic cleansing, and rape committed by the Serbs during the war and was caught on a bus on July 21, 2008, after living in Serbia for many years as "Dragan David Dabic," despite a decision for his arrest in 1995.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency about Karadzic's thinking, Sedad Dedic, a legal scholar at Zenica University, said the fact that Karadzic hid in Serbia under the pseudonym 'Dragan David Dabic,' for 13 years after the war is proof of the role of Serbia's official institutions in the aggression, genocide, and other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We must be vigilant, careful, and ready," said Dedic.

Dedic said the crimes that Karadzic and figures like him committed were motivated and planned by official "institutions" in a systematic, organized, and detailed way that aimed to eliminate a civilization.

"The important thing is that this murderous ideology has now suffered a heavy defeat at the military, political, and every other level. It is alarming that ideas about war crimes are still alive, but the real problem is that it still exists in Republika Srpska -- glorifying war criminals, giving their names to public institutions and organizations, and not recognizing international resolutions on genocide," he said.

Republika Srpska is one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Radovan Karadzic was president of the self-styled Bosnian Serb Republic and supreme commander of its armed forces between 1992 and 1995, when around 100,000 Bosnians died as the former Yugoslavia descended into ethnic bloodshed.

Karadzic was first indicted in July 1995 for the shooting of unarmed civilians in the city of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. Four months later, he was accused of orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys after Serb forces seized the UN's Srebrenica "safe area" in eastern Bosnia.

He went on the run after the war, and was finally arrested in Belgrade in 2008.

During his trials at a UN tribunal in The Hague, more than 580 witnesses gave testimony of crimes including the murder of Muslims and Croats and the destruction of private property and mosques across Bosnia.

He was charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

In 2016, Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

He filed an appeal seeking an acquittal or retrial. Following the closure of the former Yugoslav tribunal in 2017, the Council of Appeal of the International Criminal Courts Mechanism took over the ongoing cases.

The council in 2019 sentenced Karadzic, 73, to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violating the laws and customs of war. The appeal of his 40-year prison sentence was also rejected.

While the court convicted Karadzic over his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, he was found not guilty of genocide in seven other Bosnian towns.

Apart from his single genocide conviction, he was also found guilty on five counts of crimes against humanity and four war crimes charges, including taking UN soldiers hostage, exterminating civilians, murders, and attacking soldiers.

- Allegations against Serbia

Since the war, many have claimed that Serbia and its President Slobodan Milosevic played a crucial role in driving ethnic tensions in the region.

He represented the Bosnian Serbs in the Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Milosevic was arrested in 2001 and charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. He died in prison in 2006 before his trial's conclusion.

However, Milosevic's death before the trial's conclusion closed the case for Serbia.