euro|topics - Serbian leader Karadžić arrested

20/08/2008

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Main focus of Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Serbian leader Karadžić arrested

The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić has been arrested. He faces charges brought by the UN War Crimes Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Bosnia. He has been on the run for thirteen years. The European press discusses the background to and significance of the arrest of the suspected war criminal.

La Repubblica - Italy

For the daily La Repubblica the arrest of the alleged war criminal Radovan Karadžić "was probably achieved thanks to the persistence of Boris Tadić: Serb president and one of the most convincing advocates of EU membership, one of the few Serb politicians who was never on friendly terms with Karadžić." The daily notes that all the others, whether they belonged to the opposition or the government, maintained optimal relations with the Bosnian-Serb headquarters in Pale. It adds that as temporary president of the "Serb mini-republic" Karadžić also had numerous contacts with Western governments. "If Karadžić does indeed give testimony before the court in The Hague, there will no doubt be quite a few people in the West who will be forced to explain their conduct. This is probably one of the reasons why certain contingents at NATO did not seem overly keen to arrest him, even though his hiding place was initially known. The man knows a lot, enough at least to rob many of their sleep - and not only among his former Serb comrades." (22/07/2008)

El País - Spain

The daily El País recapitulates the decline of Radovan Karadžić's popularity and his ensuing arrest: "[In the elections] in 2006, Montenegro - his Montenegro - voted to end the marriage with Belgrade. During the election campaign some people living in the Serb enclaves had pictures of the smiling psychiatrist hanging in their dining rooms. 'He is our hero', some would even say. But they lost, and no one reached for their weapons to defend the honour of their hero. The definitive blow came in 2008. Not only did the pro-Europeans win the national elections, but also the Socialist Party [of former Serb President Slobodan] Milošević was key to forming a government that looks to Europe and has begun to face its demons. And this party, too, was shocked by its confrontation with the past: the hero was actually a criminal who destroyed an entire country." (22/07/2008)

The Independent - United Kingdom

In the daily The Independent correspondent Marcus Tanner comments on the future of Radovan Karadžić following his arrest: "Could a man who had once worked as a psychiatrist and physio for the Sarajevo football team seriously be dreaming of the annihilation of that city, the same city in which he had spent most of his adult life? None of us believed it. ... For years, nationalist Serbs have idolised Karadzic as an almost mythical figure, the equivalent of the hajduks, or Serbian outlaws of old, who defied the Ottomans. It will be interesting to see if the legend lives on, once the self-appointed executor and persecutor of Bosnia's Muslims and Croats faces the mundane circumstances of a Hague courtroom." (22/07/2008)

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, July 22, 2008

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