Crimes against humanity

The regime of Radovan Karadzic was not totalitarian in the sense that Nazism or Stalinism were; yet it was a regime that existed solely for the purpose of murder - the physical annihilation of non-Serbs, or more specifically, Bosnian Muslims.

Let me quote from Karadzic's court verdict a description of some of the events that took place in Rogatica in eastern Bosnia during the war:

Milan Todovic (left) in court with his lawyer. Photo courtesy of the Bosnian Court.

The Appeals Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday confirmed the December 2018 verdict, which found former Bosnian Serb soldier Milan Todovic guilty of raping a Bosniak woman in the eastern Bosnian town of Foca during the 1992-5 war and holding her in sexual captivity.

That he was also a common crook who served 11 months in prison for fraud in 1984 was not part of this carefully crafted public persona.

"Certain political forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina still side with convicted criminals and joint criminal enterprises, which are glorified, and genocide, which is not admitted. Such politics are alive in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Mehmedovic told BIRN.

The former Bosnian Serb Army chief was convicted under a first-instance verdict in November 2017 of genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the civilian population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage, but the case has now gone to appeal.

On a weekday afternoon in the Serbian capital Belgrade, a small watering hole called Luda Kuca - Madhouse - is crammed with elderly but chatty regulars.

Ahead of a ruling by the UN torture committee, the brother of the Kurdish activist deported to Turkey in 2017 says Belgrade should be punished for what he calls its 'illegal' act.

Interpol has issued a red notice calling for the arrest of Zoran Adamovic, a former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman who is charged with committing crimes against humanity in the Kljuc area in 1992.

A new dossier published by the Humanitarian Law Centre NGO documents the role of the Serbian police, army and State Security in the forced displacement of Croats from Serbia during the 1991-95 war.

The Bosnian state prosecution on Wednesday charged Dragoljub Kunarac, alias Zaga, with crimes against humanity and the persecution of the Bosniak civilian population in the Foca area in 1992.