- 29,370
- Glasgow
- GTP_Mars
Former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadžić, was finally arrested yesterday and will stand trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity. Karadžić has been in hiding since 1995, and along with his military commander, Ratko Mladic, stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the Balkans conflict (link).
Karadžić was one of the world's most wanted men, widely regarded as the central figure responsible for (and directly involved in) the murder of thousands of civilians (men, women and children) and other crimes against humanity including systematic rape, torture and imprisonment of civilians in concentration camps in Bosnia & Herzegovina during the Balkans conflict during the 1990's.
Karadžić was discovered to have been masquerading as a practitioner of alternative medicine, under the pseudonym of Dragan Dabic, and was even filmed recently (see pic on the right), showing just how convincing his disguise was... (pictured in the 1990's on the left)... it's almost beyond belief that a human being who personally ordered, planned, directed and even participated in the murder of so many innocent people, could live a completely different life as if nothing had ever happened... that thought alone is pretty frightening.
Hopefully Karadžić's arrest and trial will bring some justice to those who died and to the countless people who were scarred, physically and mentally, from this horrible conflict which Karadžić oversaw with a Stalin-esque disregard for human life.
On a personal note, I hope my friend Milena is happy tonight. As a former student leader and protester against the Milosevic regime, she met and married her husband, the Times journalist Tom Walker. Both Tom and Milena became good friends of mine, since I worked with Milena and was also lucky enough to be their neighbour when I lived in the street next to theirs in London. Tom worked as a journalist in the Balkans during the conflict and was a fierce critic of Milosevic, Karadžić and their brutal regimes. Sadly, Tom died of cancer last year, but through the work of Tom and many others like him, the world got to learn the truth about these disgusting people. My hope is that Karadžić, unlike Milosevic, will live long enough to have justice served upon him...
More info on Karadžić is available here...
Karadžić was one of the world's most wanted men, widely regarded as the central figure responsible for (and directly involved in) the murder of thousands of civilians (men, women and children) and other crimes against humanity including systematic rape, torture and imprisonment of civilians in concentration camps in Bosnia & Herzegovina during the Balkans conflict during the 1990's.
Karadžić was discovered to have been masquerading as a practitioner of alternative medicine, under the pseudonym of Dragan Dabic, and was even filmed recently (see pic on the right), showing just how convincing his disguise was... (pictured in the 1990's on the left)... it's almost beyond belief that a human being who personally ordered, planned, directed and even participated in the murder of so many innocent people, could live a completely different life as if nothing had ever happened... that thought alone is pretty frightening.
Hopefully Karadžić's arrest and trial will bring some justice to those who died and to the countless people who were scarred, physically and mentally, from this horrible conflict which Karadžić oversaw with a Stalin-esque disregard for human life.
On a personal note, I hope my friend Milena is happy tonight. As a former student leader and protester against the Milosevic regime, she met and married her husband, the Times journalist Tom Walker. Both Tom and Milena became good friends of mine, since I worked with Milena and was also lucky enough to be their neighbour when I lived in the street next to theirs in London. Tom worked as a journalist in the Balkans during the conflict and was a fierce critic of Milosevic, Karadžić and their brutal regimes. Sadly, Tom died of cancer last year, but through the work of Tom and many others like him, the world got to learn the truth about these disgusting people. My hope is that Karadžić, unlike Milosevic, will live long enough to have justice served upon him...
More info on Karadžić is available here...