Arresting Karadzic: REASSESSMENT OF THE INSTITUTIONAL INHERITANCE OF BOSNIAN SERB’S GENOCIDAL AND APARTHEID-LIKE POLITICS

On July 21, 2008 Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian para-state from 1992-95 war and genocide in Bosnia, was arrested in Serbia on two charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and for systematically organizing the 1995 massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim boys and men at Srebrenica, a UN declared "safe haven."

The Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) released a statement on July 22, 2008 commending the sustained commitment and efforts of the U.S. government and its leaders to bring justice to the fallen innocent victims in the Bosnian war. The statement emphasizes that a pledge to justice prevails the institutionalized atrocities against the innocent victims and that an indicted war criminal
can not escape the system of international justice.

BAACBH, in the statement, accentuated that one needs to attribute the importance of this day to the memory of the sufferings that so many innocents have endured. It signified that in order to prevent the past from repeating itself and to rebuild the bonds of humanity it is imperative to continue the commitment to bring those responsible for genocide and ethnic cleansing to justice. The struggle to bring justice must continue, not only to build a more decent future but to give humanity its dignity and values back.

The statement expressed that this day brings us closer to the realization and imminent task before us requiring reassessment and action to deal with the institutional inheritance of genocidal politics. That the institutions built by Dr. Karadzic must not remain as a reward for genocide that he carried out. It further signified that the indictment and the judgment against Karadzic will prove beyond doubt that genocide was committed
throughout the entire territory controlled by his forces, not limited to Srebrenica. Today, that territory is known as the Republic of Srpska.

The statement invited our readers' views, suggestions and most importantly active support for the H. Res. 679 addressing the very need for reassessment of the institutional inheritance of genocidal and apartheid-like politics that continues to exist in Bosnian and Herzegovina today, as well as the commitment to capture Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb military commander who is still at large.

BAACBH sent the statement to Hon. Senator Joseph Biden, US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Relations; Hon. Congressman Howard Berman, US House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and to the Bosnian Congressional Caucus Co-Chair Hon. Congressman Chris Smith and Hon. Congressman Russ Carnahan.