The former president of the Serbian breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina, Milan Martic, was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Martic was found guilty on 16 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war. Judges dropped one count of "extermination", or genocide, because the number of casualties did not warrant the charge. Initially charged in 1995, Martic spent seven years on the run before surrendering to the tribunal in 2002.
The judgment refers to the breakaway republic as a joint criminal enterprise established in coordination with Slobodan Milosevic to establish a unified Serbian state through ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs, Croats and Muslims during the early 1990's. It established that he acted as the Interior Minister and had, as the president, controlled the armed forces and was therefore entrusted to prevent atrocities. Instead, the judgment says, he "promoted an atmosphere" of ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs and other ethnic minorities. The indictment also details the bombing of the Croatian capital city of Zagreb in early 1995. The prosecution played radio broadcasts of Martic revealing he had "personally" ordered the shelling of the city, killing 7 and wounding over 200. The court had established that the majority of those killed under Martic's leadership were "elderly, persons held in detention and civilians". The indictment continued; "The special vulnerability of these groups of victims adds to the gravity of the crimes."
The establishment of the Serbian republic was pursued by deporting non-Serbs from parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Martic was appointed president of the self-proclaimed republic in 1994. Special forces under his command has systematically razed and looted property to ensure displaced persons would have nothing to return to. In some Croatian villages, inhabitants were forced from their homes and used as human shields by Serbian forces.
The ICTY has completed the proceedings of 106 out of 161 persons prosecuted by the court since its first hearing in 1994.
Commentary: It is interesting to note that the judgment continually refers to the breakaway Serbian republic as a "joint criminal enterprise" in its proceedings. The international protection of such designees could be extrapolated to transnational criminal enterprises, of which al Qa'ida is one. It would be interesting to see how an international tribunal would deal with the Guantanamo cases, or cases such as yesterday's ruling in al Mari. With the consistency of the Bush administration's roadblocks in the US court system, perhaps and internationally legitimate system, such as the ICTY, should be entertained.
