Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

It's rather a strange feeling to be back in The Hague as my first trip after the holidays. I was here, rather fruitlessly awaiting Radovan Karadzic's arrival before my break began. I left before he arrived. Shorn of long hair and beard at his first appearance, he was given 30 days to enter a plea. If he doesn't, the judge will do it for him today. He has already challenged the appointed judge and got him changed.

Although he seems to be co-operating with the court more than his mentor Slobodan Milosevic, he maintains that this is a political court and that he won't get a fair trial. Some I speak to suggest that the rules of evidence and identification are slack and wouldn't do in Britain. But rules vary on such matters all over Europe and those in charge insist that the proceedings are fair.

But is there is a bigger problem with such courts? Karadzic himself has evidently said that "everybody in the world" thinks he is guilty. Few deny that the killings, rapes and torture took place and few deny they were a terrible wrong (some, of course, do and either claim they did not happen on such a scale or were a part of the conduct of war). Few deny that Karadzic was in political control although it's notoriously difficult to establish who gave what exact commands. Historians still discuss whether Hitler actually gave direct orders to instigate the Holocaust even though it was pretty obvious for years beforehand where Nazi policy would lead. Whatever plea Karadzic enters, is anyone in any doubt about the verdict?

More when he appears.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?