WASHINGTON — Ratko Mladic appears today for an arraignment hearing in front of the judges at the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The former commander of the Bosnian Serb forces was indicted by the ICTY on November 16, 1995, as peace talks were being held at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and has been a sought-after fugitive for the last 16 years. In the meantime, his absence from the ICTY has been the key stumbling block for Serbia to begin the process of joining the European Union.
Arrested by Serbian special forces in a village 70 kilometers north of Belgrade on May 26, and extradited five days later, Mladic will stand trial for charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He is being tried for his leadership in the siege of Sarajevo that lasted for more than three years (1992-1995) and the massacre at Srebrenica (July 1995), which the International Court of Justice in 2007 characterized as “acts of genocide.”
His political leader, Radovan Karadzic, was apprehended and delivered by the Serbian state in July 2008 and has now been standing trial at the ICTY for the past 18 months. The ICTY had originally intended to put Karadzic and Mladic on trial together, but has to decide whether to continue with separate trials or merge them now that Mladic is in The Hague.
2008 was the turning point in this saga. Serbian President Boris Tadic was reelected, and his party took the helm of the newly elected democratic coalition, where there was full commitment and political will to fulfill the international obligations put before Serbia in turning over the remaining war criminals. The burden of this obligation has been removed.
A common refrain in Serbia for the past ten years was “Every day with Mladic at large is a lost day for Serbia.” In many ways this was true, despite all the democratic reforms that have been accomplished along Serbia’s democratic path. With this significant obstacle removed, Serbia’s road to the EU has cleared significantly, though there are still many kilometers to go. There is sufficient reason to expect that Serbia will become a candidate for membership to the EU in December and now also get a date for the beginning of accession talks to the EU.
This is an historic moment for Serbia, the region, and Europe. With Mladic’s arrest, an important chapter in the post-conflict Western Balkans has been closed. Many have rightly heralded this as a triumph of international justice and the rule of law. It is also a crucial moment for the families of the victims, even if it is a weak solace because no one can bring back their loved ones. And it will be a further significant step in the process of regional reconciliation, leading to further stability and peace.
This is also proof that confronting the evil-doing of the past begins with the pursuit of justice, both at the international and national levels; Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina have all been engaged in trying cases in their own domestic war-crimes tribunals. But this dealing with the past at a judicial level occurs in parallel, as witnessed in other historical precedents, with the longer-term work of society with itself. This is a process to understand how these crimes happened, to find where responsibility lies, and to determine the institutions, procedures, and political and societal dynamics that need to be created to impede a return of the extremes of suffering. In other words, how does one come about the “habits of the heart” that anchor civic and political freedoms in the rule of law.
War broke out in Europe at the end of the 20th century in the former Yugoslavia despite all of the post-World War II lessons — which were also taught in Yugoslavia — that it should never happen again. But Yugoslavia’s combination of an absence of democracy and a democratic political culture coupled with nationalist frenzy proved to be fertile ground for conflict. But these lessons should now be well ingrained. All the countries of the region without exception are committed — and for the past decade have endeavored — to join the project of European and Euroatlantic integration. They have all come a long way and are ready for the final — though still difficult and significant — steps.
The European Union soft power is alive and active in the Balkans. NATO has also been an important security component of these integration processes. The EU, along with the support of the United States, can and must prove that the political peace project envisaged by the post-World War II founders and laboriously constructed for over 50 years in the guise of a European Union is capable of being extended to the Western Balkans. As other global and regional challenges unfold, this is place where the transatlantic allies can demonstrate a significant measure of success in a reasonable time frame.
Ivan Vejvoda is the Vice President of Programs for the German Marshall Fund and previously was Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
Photo by Surian Soosay
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