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executions, the execution in Korićanske Stijene of some 200 non-Serbs transferred from Prijedor in August 1992. Yet according to Duratović, Mrd¯a did not reveal in court “where the bodies are.” 388 And for victims, “that was the most important thing.” 389 A couple of years after our interview with Duratović, the war crimes chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (see Chapter VI) was able to do what the ICTY had not done—identify the remains of victims of the Korićanske Stijene massacre through the testimony of defendants who pleaded guilty to charges relating to their involvement. 390 Commenting on this achievement, journalist Nidžara Ahmetašević said that what is important about defendants’ admissions of guilt is that “that’s how you will find out about the destiny of some of your relatives. And what is very important,” she continued, is that the defendants’ testimony before the Court of Bosnia has led to the discovery of mass graves. 391 On occasion this has happened at the ICTY, too. An ICTY prosecutor recalls one moment when a perpetrator’s confession provided the answer to a question that had burned deep in the heart of a Muslim woman whose two sons had been killed: [I]n September 2003, Dragan Nikolić, the warden of the notorious Sušica prison camp in the Republika Srpska, confessed to his responsibility for atrocities committed against detainees. At his sentencing hearing…, an extraordinary event occurred when a Prosecution witness, the mother of two Bosnian Muslim men who disappeared from the Sušica prison camp during the war, asked Mr. Nikolić if he could provide her with any information about the fate of her lost sons. Mr. Nikolić explained to the witness that 11 years earlier, … Bosnian Serb forces murdered her two children. It will be difficult to find another example of courtroom testimony that so powerfully and quickly advanced the process of truth-seeking and (hopefully) reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia. 392 The ICTY Web site highlights this moment, and indicates that Nikolić provided information that might lead to the identification of the graves of the witness’s sons. 393 But as a former staff member of the International Commission on Missing Persons observed, “The Tribunal has not always asked, ‘where did you put the bodies?’” 394 More generally, some of the Bosnians we interviewed believe, in the words of Dani Editor-in-Chief Ivan Lovrenović, that the “tens of confessions saying in an unambiguous way that war crimes have been committed” has been an important achievement. In Lovrenović’s view, such confessions help counter attempts by many to equalize crimes committed during the 1990s war, which have had the effect of “dehumanizing victims’ suffering.” Through the detailed confirmation of specific atrocities that comes with defendants’ guilty pleas, Lovrenović believes, the ICTY is “taking our attention back to the concrete problem which is most important here, which is the misery that victims have been through.” 395 Many of the victims we interviewed, moreover, indicated that expressions of remorse that appear to be genuine can be important to their healing processes. For example, Sadik 64 ACHIEVEMENTS, FAILURES, AND PERFORMANCE
Trako told us that victims in the Lašva Valley region were gratified when Tihomir Blaškić, one of the defendants convicted for those crimes, contacted them upon his release from prison. According to Trako, Blaškić wanted to meet with the victims’ organization that Trako leads “to apologize to the families of victims.” Although Trako thought it too early for a meeting and told Blaškić as much, he recalled that he was “still glad Blaškić apologized.” 396 Blaškić did not benefit from a plea agreement, and it may be the case that victims are more likely to perceive an apology as insincere when a reduced sentence is secured. But our interviews suggest that victims often do find meaningful differences among defendants who express remorse based on their apparent sincerity. And as one commentator has noted, “guilty pleas that seem to be motivated by sincere remorse and a genuine acknowledgement of wrongdoing are much more likely to encourage dialogue and forgiveness than guilty pleas that appear motivated solely by sentencing concessions.” 397 In any event and as noted earlier, the victims we interviewed generally believe that, even in the context of a plea agreement, there must be a just relationship between the sentence imposed and the crime for which guilt is acknowledged—and that this has not been reflected in most sentences imposed following guilty pleas. Moreover the Plavšić case points up the importance of ensuring that perpetrators undertake to cooperate with the prosecution in exchange for a reduced sentence. Thus it is noteworthy that, after the Plavšić plea, all defendants who pleaded guilty before the ICTY agreed to testify in other proceedings. 398, 399 Particularly when a defendant is willing to confess, victims’ needs would be better served if the ICTY routinely sought to ensure full disclosure about the fate of victims. It may also be important for judges, when sentencing defendants who have shown remorse, to be mindful of how words of praise come across to victims who experienced hellish crimes at the hands of the defendant. Finally, redoubled efforts to educate the Bosnian public about the nature of plea agreements—what information the defendant provided in exchange for reduced charges, for example—may be an especially important area of the ICTY’s outreach efforts. After stating that Biljana Plavšić’s confession had had no positive impact, journalist Nerma Jelačić, who later became an ICTY spokesperson, noted: “Maybe [the ICTY’s Outreach Programme] should have been doing something with the confessions.” 400 Although her comment focused on the confession of Plavšić, it could well apply to plea agreements generally. 401 One of the victims we interviewed, who was highly critical of plea agreements, indicated that if the ICTY Outreach Programme were more forthcoming about the value of plea agreements, it might indeed take some of the sting out of the practice. “It would mean a lot, by all means, yes, if we knew that the defendant’s cooperation [with the prosecutor] led to mass graves or the conviction of others who were even more responsible.” 402 Even so, he made clear, someone who committed atrocious crimes deserves commensurate punishment. THAT SOMEONE GUILTY BE PUNISHED 65
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That Someone Guilty Be Punished The
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That Someone Guilty Be Punished The
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Table of Contents Acknowledgments 7
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Acknowledgments Diane Orentlicher,
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Methodology This report draws upon
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I. Introduction On May 25, 1993, th
Page 15 and 16: Victims’ Justice The Security Cou
Page 17 and 18: in the . Srebrenica genocide. Many
Page 19 and 20: Journalist Nidžara Ahmetašević r
Page 21 and 22: survive “ethnic cleansing.” Muh
Page 23: ings [of Bosnia’s judiciary were]
Page 26 and 27: from territories under Serb control
Page 28 and 29: C. Peace and Justice If the ICTY fa
Page 30 and 31: groups are approximately the same s
Page 32 and 33: F. Cooperation by Bosnian Authoriti
Page 34 and 35: Women [who were captured by Serb so
Page 36 and 37: Tribunal’s expressive function in
Page 38 and 39: We found this view to be nearly uni
Page 40 and 41: Branko Todorović, who heads the He
Page 42 and 43: full establishment of healthy and c
Page 44 and 45: Sali-Teržić believes that justice
Page 46 and 47: committed war crimes, a notion that
Page 48 and 49: J. “Justice Isn’t Just in Legal
Page 50 and 51: Vehid Šehić, who believes the ICT
Page 52 and 53: Because our own research did not in
Page 54 and 55: imposed on two other perpetrators c
Page 56 and 57: feared it would be reduced to half
Page 58 and 59: Enumerating victims’ frustrations
Page 60 and 61: While some of our Bosnian interlocu
Page 62 and 63: 2. Biljana Plavšić On October 2,
Page 64 and 65: Others interviewed during the same
Page 68 and 69: D. Significant Verdicts, Other Ruli
Page 70 and 71: at least 2012; another, Ratko Mladi
Page 72 and 73: could be legally attributed to Serb
Page 74 and 75: Hasečić leads, the Association of
Page 76 and 77: ings … went before any expectatio
Page 78 and 79: enica survivor Kada Hotić describe
Page 80 and 81: they are in the shadow of Karadži
Page 82 and 83: First, individuals who had been for
Page 84 and 85: Kovačević, who was under indictme
Page 86 and 87: says it was “not the major reason
Page 88 and 89: their names are not publicly disclo
Page 91 and 92: V. Truth and Acknowledgment The off
Page 93 and 94: A. Acknowledging and Condemning Atr
Page 95 and 96: We encountered another brand of non
Page 97 and 98: Herzegovina that only serves to cau
Page 99 and 100: 3. Acknowledgement on the part of o
Page 101 and 102: More generally, Bosnians’ percept
Page 103 and 104: is standard procedure for prosecuto
Page 105 and 106: crimes occurred and meet with local
Page 107 and 108: Srd¯an Dizdarević believes that t
Page 109 and 110: VI. Impact on Domestic War Crimes P
Page 111 and 112: But if his words seemed to invite s
Page 113 and 114: Rules of the Road In the aftermath
Page 115 and 116: Responding to a question about the
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In examining the results and prospe
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the ICTY’s strategy for completin
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a. Rule 11 bis cases While Rule 11
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ut the documentation is still in th
Page 125 and 126:
December 2006, Vaso Marinković, th
Page 127 and 128:
tional judges and prosecutors are n
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The ICTY prosecuted just one person
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In recent years, state authorities
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in the late 1990s, as it finally be
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oning with the dark pages of its re
Page 138 and 139:
9. Interview with Fadil Budnjo, pre
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38. As we note in Chapter VI, then
Page 142 and 143:
58. Richard J. Goldstone, For Human
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84. In 1997, the Peace Implementati
Page 146 and 147:
the Security Council, S/2005/781, D
Page 148 and 149:
135. Interview with Mirsad Duratovi
Page 150 and 151:
160. The ICTY prosecutor issued the
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2009; Patrice C. McMahon and Jon We
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221. An example of such an individu
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izručenje” (“Most RS Citizens
Page 158 and 159:
267. In November 2001, Dragan Kolun
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Families of Missing, Forcibly Detai
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vict’s sentence, including “the
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348. See Marlise Simons, “Crossin
Page 166 and 167:
379. See Judith Armatta, “Srebren
Page 168 and 169:
2001 and was based on U.S. federal
Page 170 and 171:
426. Interview with Kada Hotić, vi
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467. The average length of trials c
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495. Gideon Boas and Timothy L.H. M
Page 176 and 177:
estored to them. The early return o
Page 178 and 179:
561. Murselović recalled that at t
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other charges. See Marlise Simons,
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of the Convention on the Prevention
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admit to the existence of war crimi
Page 186 and 187:
681. “Controversial group in Sreb
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and disruption of war and immediate
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Herzegovina, 46 Colum J. Transnat
Page 192 and 193:
729. International Crisis Group, Wa
Page 194 and 195:
Change, Analysts Say,” New York T
Page 196 and 197:
tation of the Peace Agreement to th
Page 198 and 199:
Republika Srpska (31.9%). See South
Page 200 and 201:
798. E-mail communication with Pipi
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822. As of July 2009, all but one o
Page 204 and 205:
as “horrible,” while noting tha
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Jails Overflow,” BIRN’s Justice
Page 208 and 209:
sarily devoted mainly to prosecutin
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Open Society Justice Initiative The
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When the United Nations Security Co
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