Arrest of barbaric ex-leader of Bosnian Serbs was overdue

It has taken 13 years to bring Radovan Karadzic to justice, so it would be travesty if his trial on genocide charges takes even half that time. Karadzic has the blood of thousands, including 8,000 Muslims, on his hands as the leader of the ethnic Serbs during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and must answer for his brutality. A speedy trial is demanded.

Karadzic, who masterminded the wartime siege of Sarajevo and the mass executions, had for years topped the most-wanted list of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Yet, he lived under the noses of those seeking to bring him to justice.

He concealed his identity with a long, white beard and practiced alternative medicine in Belgrade, Serbia. Karadzic was arrested Monday in a Belgrade suburb — by a stroke of luck. He wasn’t the intended target. Serbian security forces were looking for Gen. Ratko Mladic, Karadzic’s wartime commander, when they literally stumbled onto the former Serbian leader.

It was a prize catch — one that brought immediate reaction from around the world. The arrest means that the victims of the bloody and ruthless ethnic cleansing campaign may finally rest in peace.

Of course, the arrest of Mladic, whose bloodthirsty reputation made him the most feared man in Bosnia, will be the crowning achievement of the international community’s commitment to bring to justice those who commit crimes against humanity.

Safe haven?

What made the war all the more horrific was the fact that Srebrenica, a U.N. safe haven for Muslim refugees, was overrun by Serbian forces loyal to the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, resulting in a rampage that lasted a week.

It was the worst civilian carnage since World War II. The Serbs separated the men and boys, forced them to strip, killed them and bulldozed their bodies into mass graves.

“Children had their throats slit before their mothers’ eyes,” said Fouad Riad, an Egyptian judge who prepared the indictment against Mladic and Karadzic.

Judge Riad said that the scene was marked by “a frenzy of terror that led many to take their lives.”

Witnesses to the atrocities will never forget what took place during that evil period, and neither should the rest of the world.

The prosecution of Karadzic will help in the healing process, which is why the U.N. war crimes tribunal must move expeditiously to bring the former Bosnian leader to trial.

Indeed, the failure of authorities, including members of NATO’s forces, to quickly arrest both Karadzic and Mladic has prompted many to suggest that global politics took precedence over justice.

Although there are several war crimes panels pursuing charges against other ruthless dictators, such as the former president of Liberia and the ex-vice president of Congo, the Bosnian war remains one of the biggest blots on the international community’s conscience.

There must be no deals cut that would allow Karadzic and Mladic to avoid the death penalty.

Those who were slaughtered — there were a large number of women and children — deserve no less than for the butchers of Bosnia to pay for their crimes with their lives.