That Someone Guilty Be Punished - International Center for ...

Journalist Nidžara Ahmetašević recalled the rush of emotions many Bosniaks experienced
upon learning of his capture:
People were very happy and at the same time very sad. In the first moment people
were on the streets celebrating. In the second moment, when reality hit them, people
became really sad because they had to wait so long. There were many who cried that
day, because, okay, it was so easy to do that [yet] he was free all that time. So it was very
mixed. 21
Still, if actions speak louder than words, many victims reached a new stage in their
ascent from the deepest abyss of loss and grief when Karadžić was captured: they traveled to
The Hague to see him in the dock. Ahmetašević characterized their reactions this way: “Okay,
he’s there and now you know he will never come out again. Now I feel much better.” 22
Perhaps inevitably, disappointments continue. On the day Karadžić’s trial was to start,
nearly 200 victims travelled over 1,200 miles by bus from Bosnia to The Hague to see Karadžić
in the dock, only to find it empty—Karadžić boycotted the beginning of his trial, claiming he
needed more time to prepare his defense. Karadžić, a psychiatrist by vocation, had decided to
follow in Milošević’s footsteps and represent himself in court. The frustrated victims could
not understand why he was not compelled to appear in court when sitting only a few miles
away in the UN’s detention facility. 23
Bosnians will doubtless experience a similar jumble of emotions when Ratko Mladić is
finally found and, if captured alive, turned over to the Tribunal. Yet on one point, our Bosniak
interlocutors almost universally expressed crystalline clarity: Justice will not be served if the
ICTY fails to gain custody over Ratko Mladić, who is widely seen to be even more culpable
than Karadžić.
Further costs of time lost. The combined effects of protracted periods of impunity and
lengthy trials have been burdensome, particularly for victim-witnesses. We heard repeatedly
of witness fatigue. Although the subject arose principally in the context of challenges facing
Bosnia’s relatively new war crimes chamber, 24 it points to a larger dilemma confronting large
numbers of victims seventeen years into the ICTY’s work: While still desperate for justice,
many are deeply frustrated by how long it is taking.
Nidžara Ahmetašević, who is in constant contact with victims of wartime atrocities, says
she does not “believe anybody who says victims are tired of the whole process—they’re not.” Of
course there are exceptions, she acknowledges. Yet every day, her office receives letters “from
victims who want to tell their story.” Ahmetašević says there are “thousands” of such people,
who are “afraid they will die and take their stories with them.” 25
Calling a crime by its proper name: genocide. If Bosnians cite a formidable list of disappointments
in the ICTY’s performance, these should not obscure the profound satisfaction
many have derived from its work. For many Bosnians (particularly but not exclusively Bos-
THAT SOMEONE GUILTY BE PUNISHED 17