Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Radovan Karadzic: Ex-Bosnian Serb leader to be sent to UK prison

Radovan Karadzic: Ex-Bosnian Serb leader to be sent to UK prison

Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader convicted of genocide during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, is to serve the rest of his life sentence in a British jail.

The Foreign Office said he would be transferred to a UK prison from a UN detention unit in the Netherlands.

Karadzic, 75, was also found guilty at his 2016 criminal tribunal of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His original 40-year sentence was increased at an appeal hearing in 2019.

His conviction for genocide related to his responsibility for the murder of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.

It was considered one of the worst massacres in Europe since World War Two.

Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia also held Karadzic responsible for the siege of Sarajevo, a campaign of shelling and sniping which lasted more than three years and led to the deaths of an estimated 10,000 civilians.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "Radovan Karadzic is one of the few people to have been found guilty of genocide...

"We should take pride in the fact that, from UK support to secure his arrest, to the prison cell he now faces, Britain has supported the 30-year pursuit of justice for these heinous crimes."

Mr Raab described Srebrenica as "the darkest moment in European history since the Holocaust".

"I think we have got a moral duty and I think we have a sense of national purpose in trying to hold to account the perpetrators of the very worst crimes," Mr Raab said.

"Back since Nuremburg [the trials of Nazi leaders in the German city after World War Two] we have played that role."

He added: "If we want to deter these kind of crimes from happening, if we want to give justice to the many thousands of victims, I think it is right we do our bit."

The UK was one of the signatories to enforcement agreements with the United Nations for sentences passed by its tribunals related to the former Yugoslavia.

UN officials confirmed they had asked the UK to "enforce the sentence".

They did not provide a date for the move but said "all necessary measures" should be taken "to facilitate Karadzic's transfer... as expeditiously as possible".

Radovan Karadzic, right, pictured with General Ratko Mladic in 1995

The conflict in the former Yugoslavia stemmed from tensions among ethnic groups, following the death of President Tito in 1980.

Calls for more autonomy led in 1991 to declarations of independence in Croatia and Slovenia and fighting with the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army.

Bosnia, with a complex mix of Serbs, Muslims and Croats, was next to try for independence. Bosnia's Serbs, backed by Serbs elsewhere in Yugoslavia, resisted.

Karadzic, a former psychiatrist, was president of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

After the war, he hid for years - masquerading as an expert in alternative medicine - before his eventual arrest in Serbia in 2008.

In November 2017, former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life in prison on similar charges of war crimes and genocide. A ruling in an appeal against his conviction is to be announced next month in The Hague.


Britain was involved in the hunt, trial and conviction of Radovan Karadzic. And now it is taking responsibility for enforcing the sentence handed down to him.

British intelligence played a role in his capture in Belgrade in 2008 after 13 years on the run. British judges and lawyers were involved in the trial against him at a United Nations tribunal that the UK helped to set up.

One of the young lawyers who drafted the legal procedure to transfer Karadzic to the UK was a certain Dominic Raab, who is now the Foreign Secretary - and who ultimately agreed to the request from the UN that the former Bosnian Serb leader should serve out his term in a British jail.

Officials say the reason the UK agreed is because it is on the list of UN members willing to detain those found guilty of global crimes, and it wished to show its continued support for the international rules-based order.

The UK will bear the costs of Karadzic's detention but any decision about whether he is released before his death would be a matter for the UN authorities in The Hague.

Karadzic will not be the first foreign national convicted of war crimes to have been held in a UK prison.

Five men convicted of war crimes by the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia have been sent to British high-security prisons in the past.

They included former Bosnian-Serb general Radislav Krstic, who was stabbed by three Muslim prisoners at Wakefield jail in 2010 in apparent retaliation for Srebrenica.

Krstic was moved to a prison in Poland in 2014.

The UK had also offered to jail the former President of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, when he was on trial in The Hague on charges of war crimes and genocide. But he died in 2006 before the legal proceedings were completed.

In a separate arrangement, ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is serving a 50-year war sentence in the UK following a war crimes conviction by a UN-backed special court, for aiding rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil war.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
×