Reading Materials Drakulic Why does Drakulic set out to write her book What is her general thesis How do apparently ordinary citizens turn into callous death peddling brutes o Argues silences about the truths and terrible ethnic conflicts of the past were part of the reason for their re emergence in the latest war Be able to describe the Balkan conflict of 1991 1995 The Hague has been a source of controversy in the Balkans The ICTY was established because the former Yugoslav states were either unable or unwilling to prosecute their own war criminals Far from being independent their judicial systems were deeply corrupt and there would have been enormous political pressure if alleged war criminals were tried in local courts Back home in Croatia this argument immediately became fiercely disputed Opponents of the International Tribunal on the right argued that the ICTY court was a political instrument established to punish and humiliate their country The more sophisticated critics argued that it would be better to hold the trials for war criminals at home because it would give the nation a way to face the truth about the war and experience a catharsis I was na ve enough to believe that one of the priorities of the new post Tudjman government would be to try to face the truth about the war why did it happen What was it about Did the Croatian army commit war crimes or not It is of course a hard truth the war was about forming a nation state with ethnic cleansing 200 000 Serbs were forced to leave Krajina their homes were burned and plundered some 400 civilians were killed Serb civilians in Gospi Pakrac and Sisak were executed en masse 24 000 Muslims were detained by Bosnian Croatian soldiers in forty four concentration camps in Herzegovina Croats killed 116 civilians in the village of Ahmici and blew up the old bridge in Mostar Establishing the truth about the war is at the heart of the controversies surrounding The Hague tribunal Until the truth about the war is established trials of the war criminals whether in the International Tribunal or in the local courts will be experienced as an injustice to the war heroes However the conflict between truth and justice has serious political consequences the governments in both Serbia and Croatia have problems with the truth and justifying to their citizens the extradition of those indicted for war crimes to the tribunal in The Hague Because people find it easier to live with lies than with the truth attempts to administer justice through the tribunal or even through the local courts are experienced as an injustice And as long as there is so little desire in these societies to uncover the truth justice for war criminals will continue be perceived as a threat to the entire community Justice simply has to come from The Hague or it will not come at all and all because we ourselves are not capable of washing our own dirty bloody laundry We do not even realize yet the need to do it Also see notes on Number 2 question at top of page Be able to describe the events and actors involved at Srebrenica In Bosnia where Serbs Croats and Muslims lived together the war started in April 1992 Because of the mixed population it also took on the characteristic of a civil war The Serbian minority there protected by Milo evi proclaimed the independent state of Republika Srpska Not being able to prevent either Croatia or Bosnia from leaving Yugoslavia Milo evi together with Serbs from Republika Srpska now embarked on a war for a Great Serbia The two year siege of Sarajevo followed and a couple of years later the UN protected Muslim enclave of Srebrenica fell to the army of Republika Srpska Some seven thousand unarmed Muslim men were executed the biggest massacre in Europe since 1945 Radislav Krsti general of the forces of the Republika Srpska and the deputy commander of the Drina Corps was the first war criminal sentenced for genocide by the tribunal in The Hague He was sentenced to forty six years in prison for crimes committed in the UN safe area of Srebrenica between July 13 and 19 1995 when more than seven thousand Muslim men were executed and thirty thousand people were forcibly deported His adjutant major Dragan Obrenovi is awaiting trial in The Hague Know the identity and stories of the following persons described by Drakulic Radislav Krstic Slobodan Milosevich o Radislav Krsti general of the forces of the Republika Srpska and the deputy commander of the Drina Corps was the first war criminal sentenced for genocide by the tribunal in The Hague He was sentenced to forty six years in prison for crimes committed in the UN safe area of Srebrenica between July 13 and 19 1995 when more than seven thousand Muslim men were executed and thirty thousand people were forcibly deported His adjutant major Dragan Obrenovi is awaiting trial in The Hague o The case of Slobodan Milo evi the former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia is the first international prosecution of a former head of state for crimes committed while in office He is charged among other things with committing genocide in the war in Bosnia and with crimes against humanity in the wars in Croatia and Kosovo Although he most certainly did not kill anybody himself he was responsible for the politics that resulted in more than two hundred thousand dead Milo evi has chosen to defend himself to act as his own lawyer at the tribunal o A commander of the Republika Srpska forces and Radovan Karad i the former president of the Republika Srpska the Serbian republic in Bosnia have been charged by the tribunal for crimes of genocide crimes against humanity grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 As the result of these crimes approximately two hundred thousand Bosnian Muslims lost their lives Both men are also charged with occupation of the safe area of Srebrenica and ordering summary executions of Ratko Mladi Biljana Plavsic more than seven thousand Muslim men Mladi and Karad i considered the biggest war criminals after Slobodan Milo evi are still at large and in hiding o Not many women took part in the war especially at the top level Biljana Plav i was one of the three highest ranking officials in Republika Srpska during the war next to Radovan Karad i and Mom ilo Kraji nik both indicted by the tribunal Plav i was sentenced to eleven years in prison for crimes against humanity violations of the laws and customs of war and grave breaches of
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