Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic (right):
On the run for 10 years
The fact that the two fugitives remain free has increased speculation that both are now living in neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro and are therefore out of reach of peacekeepers in Bosnia.
For 10 years, the two former Bosnian Serb leaders have thumbed their noses at the West.
Accused of genocide, they have been at the top of The Hague's most wanted list since the transfer of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to the international war crimes tribunal in 2001.
The West's attempts to capture them have been characterised by unfulfilled promises, botched arrest attempts and, until recently, a distinct lack of interest.
Radovan Karadzic, the former political leader and Ratko Mladic, his military commander, have managed to exploit not only their hero status among many Serbs but also the remote, inaccessible mountains and valleys where they are believed to have spent much of their time in hiding.
The two men have managed to evade arrest for so long but, it is believed, they have done so in different ways and have been supported by different people.
In 2004, documents leaked by western diplomats suggested general Mladic was still enjoying the protection of the Bosnian Serb military.
General Mladic's erstwhile political leader, Radovan Karadzic, has been somewhat difficult to track down. It is understood that very little hard evidence has emerged about his movements since he disappeared from his former wartime headquarters in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale.
Most recent intelligence reports put Karadzic living in the remote mountains of north-west Montenegro, not far from his home town of Niksic. But international peacekeepers cannot act there, as the area is part of Serbia and Montenegro.
Indicted
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have both been charged and indicted in absentia by the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague.
They face 16 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of war in Bosnia-Hercegovina between April 1992 and July 1995.
The indictment says Karadzic, a former Bosnian Serb leader, and Mladic, who was a chief of the Bosnian Serb army, are responsible for persecution of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians on national, political and religious grounds.
The tribunal says Karadzic's and Mladic's squads killed thousands of Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 "in order to kill, terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population".
THE CHARGES
It says Karadzic and Mladic are responsible for the unlawful confinement, murder, rape and inhumane treatment of the civilian population in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
It lists detention facilities, such as Omarska, Keraterm and Luka, where Bosnian Muslims and Croats were detained and says the camp commanders were accountable to Karadzic and Mladic.
In many instances, women and girls were repeatedly raped. Food rations and medical care in the prisons were inadequate.
Karadzic and Mladic are accused of shelling Sarajevo and of using 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995. Both men are charged with the unlawful appropriation and destruction of property and places of worship. The tribunal also accuses Karadzic and Mladic of committing grave breaches and violations of the laws or customs of war.
Radovan Karadzic: Psychologist, poet and war crimes suspect
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is one of the most wanted men in the world. Accused of leading the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, he has twice been indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The UN says his forces killed at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995 as part of a campaign to "terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population".
He was also charged over the shelling of Sarajevo, and the use of 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995.
He was obliged to step down as president of the SDS in 1996 as the West threatened sanctions against Republika Srpska, and later went into hiding.
Karadzic was born in 1945 in a stable in Savnik, Montenegro.
His father, Vuk, had been a member of the Chetniks - Serb nationalist guerrillas who fought against both Nazi occupiers and Tito's communist partisans in World War II - and was in jail for much of his son's childhood.
His mother, Jovanka Karadzic, described her son as loyal, and a hard worker, who used to help her in the home and in the field.
She said he was a serious boy who was respectful towards the elderly and helped his school friends with their homework.
In 1960 he moved to Sarajevo, where he later met his wife, Ljiljana, graduated as a doctor, and became a psychologist in a city hospital.
He also became a poet and fell under the influence of the Serb nationalist writer Dobrica Cosic, who encouraged him to go into politics.
Years later, after working briefly for the Green Party, he helped set up the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) - formed in 1990 in response to the rise of national and Croat parties in Bosnia and dedicated to the goal of a Greater Serbia.
Less than two years later, as Bosnia-Hercegovina gained recognition as an independent state, he declared the creation of the independent Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina (later renamed Republika Srpska) with its capital in Sarajevo, and himself as head of state.
Ratko Mladic: carried out ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims
Ratko Mladic was born in Bosnia, in the village of Kalinovik, in 1942. He was brought up in Tito's Yugoslavia, becoming a regular officer in the Yugoslav People's Army.
INDICTMENT CHARGES
As the country began to disintegrate in 1991, he was posted to lead the Yugoslav army's 9th Corps against Croatian forces at Knin. Later he took command of the Yugoslav Army's Second Military District, based in Sarajevo.
Then, in May 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly voted to create a Bosnian Serb army, appointing General Mladic commander.
He is considered to have been one of the prime movers in the siege of Sarajevo and in 1995 led the Serb onslaught against the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.
Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to the Srebrenica enclave, where tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge from earlier Serb offensives in north-eastern Bosnia.
The Serb forces bombarded Srebrenica with heavy shelling and rocket fire for five days before Mladic entered the town accompanied by Serb camera crews.
The next day, buses arrived to take the women and children sheltering in Srebrenica to Muslim territory, while the Serbs separated out all Muslim men and boys from age 12 to 77 for "interrogation for suspected war crimes".
In the five days after Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys were murdered.
After the end of the Bosnian war, Mladic returned to Belgrade, enjoying the open support and protection of Milosevic. He lived openly in the city - visiting public places, eating in expensive restaurants and even attending football matches until Milosevic's arrest.
Having lived freely in Belgrade for some time, Mladic disappeared from view when former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in 2001.
Starting in October 2004 former aides to Mladic began surrendering to the war crimes tribunal, as Belgrade came under intense international pressure to co-operate. They included Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero, both accused of involvement in ethnic cleansing.
No comments:
Post a Comment