Freedom House: Karadzic Arrest 'No Coincidence'

Today’s arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, is a triumph for the international community and Serbia’s new government.

“The arrest of Karadzic shows that elections do matter. It’s no coincidence that the Serbian government appointed a new head of security on Friday and this arrest happened just three days later,” said Thomas O. Melia, Freedom House deputy executive director. “It is time for the Serbian authorities to finish the job and arrest General Ratko Mladic.”

The arrest of Karadzic and other indicted war criminals—including Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic who remain at large—is a one of the main conditions of Serbian progress toward European Union membership. It comes within weeks of a new pro-Western government taking power in Serbia, following the May 11 elections which some analysts feared could bring a nationalist, anti-EU party to power.

Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted men, had been a fugitive since his indictment by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague in 1995. Serbian security forces arrested him in a sweep Monday evening.

Karadzic is accused of directly or indirectly causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in his campaign against Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. Chief among his accused crimes is the slaughter of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

“Freedom House applauds Karadzic’s long overdue arrest and hopes that it will begin to bring justice and closure to the families of his victims,” said Freedom House Executive director Jennifer Windsor. 

For more information on Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, visit:
 
Freedom in the World 2008: Serbia
Nations in Transit 2008: Serbia
Freedom in the World 2008: Bosnia-Herzegovina
Nations in Transit 2008: Bosnia-Herzegovina

Freedom House is an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world.

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