Karadzic the barbarian shows no shame, regret

The mastermind of the siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia has finally taken the stand in his defense. And true to form, Radovan Karadzic is justifying the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims by describing them as legitimate targets.

Indeed, Karadzic not only denied Serb culpability, but said the mass murder of Muslims at Srebrenica was stage managed or fabricated to vilify the Serb community.

Of course, the judges presiding over the trial in The Hague, Netherlands, since last October have already heard a tape recording of his hate-laced words urging the destruction of Bosnia’s non-Serbs.

Chief Prosecutor Alan Tieger, leading the United Nations prosecutorial team, played a video of a notorious speech Karadzic gave before war broke out in the Balkans. He predicted that Muslims would disappear from Bosnia.

“By the disappearance of the Muslim people, Karadzic meant that they would be physically annihilated,” Tieger said.

Karadzic faces 11 charges — two genocide counts and nine other war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has refused to enter any pleas, but insists he is innocent. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

But Karadzic’s contention about what occurred during the war in Bosnia is challenged by the facts.

For example, he denied that Sarajevo was under siege and, instead, was a divided city like Beirut. He accused Muslim and Croat forces of “the abuse of hospitals, schools, kindergartens turned into military facilities” and said they established sniper positions, rooftop bunkers and firing points throughout the city.

Karadzic contended that when Serb troops responded to fire, they were accused of firing indiscriminately at Sarajevo.

Raining shell fire

However, his version of what occurred during the siege has already been challenged with the conviction of two commanders of the Bosnian Serb army for relentlessly raining shell fire on the city.

The horror was played out in front of international television cameras.

What makes Karadzic’s conduct of the war all the more horrific is 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.

The Serbs separated men and boys, forced them to strip, killed them and bulldozed their bodies into mass graves.

Karadzic was arrested in July 2008 after evading capture for 13 years during which time 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.

He was nabbed in Belgrade — 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.

Despite his attempt to portray the Serbs as victims and his role in the mass murder of Muslims as merely a leader protecting his people, the facts point to a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

For that, he must pay with his freedom.