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

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.
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