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

imposed on two other perpetrators convicted of crimes in Foča are included in the tally, 263 the
average sentence imposed against five of the men who shattered Budnjo’s universe is 18 years’
imprisonment. (We note that the figures differ only slightly from those reflecting the case law
of the Court of BiH. As of February 2009, the war crimes chamber of the Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina had convicted six individuals of crimes against humanity committed in Foča, four
of them for sexual crimes; the average sentence was 17.5 years. 264 )
A substantial number of defendants indicted by the ICTY were charged with atrocities
committed in the northwest Bosnian municipality of Prijedor, where nondescript warehouses
became nightmarish detention centers that evoked Nazi concentration camps. 265 Despite the
attention paid to Prijedor crimes, however, Keraterm camp survivor Edin Ramulić observed:
“In Prijedor generally speaking people aren’t satisfied with Hague sentencing policy” 266 —and
small wonder. Individuals found criminally responsibility for atrocities in the Omarska and
Keraterm camps have received sentences as light as three, 267 five, 268 six, 269 seven, 270 and eight271 years’ imprisonment. (While these sentences have provoked deep disappointment, we note
that the ICTY has at times imposed more stringent penalties in connection with crimes committed
in Omarska and Keraterm, including 25 years in prison for Zoran Žigić, 20 years for
Mlad¯o Radić, and 15 years for Duško Sikirica. 272 )
Even short sentences typically are not served in full. Under Article 28 of the ICTY’s
Statute, the president of the Tribunal may grant early release to a convicted person when he
or she becomes eligible under the law of the State where s/he is serving her/his sentence. 273
Reflecting the standard practice in Europe, where most ICTY defendants are serving their
sentences, it has been “a consistent practice” of the ICTY to grant early release to defendants
who have served two-thirds of their sentences, 274 with the ICTY president regularly citing
rehabilitation as a relevant consideration. 275 Noting that most of the Prijedor defendants who
received short sentences were soon released—all received credit for time served before they
were sentenced, and most did not serve their full sentences—Edin Ramulić wonders, “What
message do you think that sends here, to the local Serb community?” 276
While many Bosnians (as well as many international commentators) fault the Tribunal
for imposing sentences that are not commensurate with the gravity of the crimes committed,
short sentences have a more tangible impact on many survivors: Individuals who committed
grotesque crimes against them have been released from prison and are now back in their communities.
The experience of Nusreta Sivac, who has testified before the ICTY in several cases,
exemplifies this point. Sivac, who served as a judge in Prijedor when the conflict began, was
one of 36 women who were detained in the Omarska camp. Every morning for two months,
she began the day by counting the bodies of inmates killed during the night, “mostly of torture.”
277 But “[t]he worst were the nights for women because the guards would come to the
rooms and take us somewhere in the camp and rape. That happened on a regular basis.” 278 In
2002, Sivac returned to Prijedor to reclaim her apartment, which had been given to a former
Serb colleague. 279 One of her neighbors was Miroslav Kvočka—a defendant against whom
52 ACHIEVEMENTS, FAILURES, AND PERFORMANCE