Former Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic's Life Sentence Increased

Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who is considered one of the main architects of the mass murder of civilians during the Bosnian War, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday, March 20. According to a report by the Associated Press, judges at the International Court of Justice found genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes charges against Radovan Karadzic. The report states that the 73-year-old Karadzic showed no particular reaction when the judge asked him to rise to announce his final sentence. Karadzic's previous sentence was 40 years in prison, which has now been increased to life imprisonment. The report mentions that several survivors of the Bosnian War present in the courtroom in The Hague reacted with cheers to the judge's ruling and embraced each other. The prosecutor, who had worked for a decade to convict Karadzic, welcomed the ruling and stated that the court needed to prove to Karadzic's supporters in Bosnia that he is not a hero. Prosecutor Serge Brammertz stated, 'This court has proven this. Now Karadzic will be remembered in history as a war criminal responsible for the horrific suffering of people.' The Bosnian War, which took place from 1992 to 1995, is considered the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II, leaving one hundred thousand dead and millions homeless. Peter Robinson, Karadzic's lawyer, stated that although his client accepts 'moral responsibility' for the suffering caused by this war, he believes that today's ruling is a sign of 'politics prevailing over justice.' Mr. Karadzic has called the ruling 'unjust and unfair.' The initial sentence of 40 years for Radovan Karadzic was issued in 2016, but Wagen Johnson, the appellate judge at The Hague, believes that Karadzic's responsibility and involvement in the war crimes of Bosnia were underestimated in that ruling. Karadzic is one of several senior officials from the Bosnian War who have been convicted by the Hague War Crimes Tribunal.