Comments - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Balkanbaby

Avadhut

Avadhut — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It is amazing to see you say something as -

“Whilst Haradinaj was certainly no angel, his acquittal, similar to the gentle punishment of Srebrenica’s Bosnian defender Naser Oric, shows that The Hague’s judges are capable of appreciating the context in which events took place. As a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Haradinaj’s men do carry responsibility for avoidable civilian deaths and mistreatment. This does not mean that Haradinaj himself is some perverse mother figure who must take full responsibility for the errors of grown men.”

Radovan Karadzic and Radko Mladic may well argue the same! It would be interesting to see where your sympathies lie then.

War crimes are war crimes independent of circumstances and motive. It is just that Kosovo suddenly finds a lot of Western friends that we hear tones like the above quoted piece.

Osman

Osman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Won’t this antagonise the Serbians even further? After all, this man was charged for crimes such a rape and murder of Kosovar Serbs. I have a feeling that the trial was political and not criminal in nature. It was a farce.

Srdjan

Srdjan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The tribunal has no credibility. It is biased against Serbs even if they were on the wronged side. I reject this verdict as millions of other Serbs. Mladic and Karadzic are not cowards as you write. They know that they will never get a fair trial. They are not the fools you expect them to be by giving themselves up. Ante Gotovina will be acquitted too. This will mean Mladic automatically acquitted for us.

Save money by dismantling this nonsense tribunal.

Carin

Carin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

every one is entitled to their opinions. i would like to say haradinaj’s left off the hook with a slap on the wrist is for the bigger good for the region. a conviction would have justified serbian atrocities in kosovo and we must not forget that in no circumstance would serbia recognize kosovo.

Jimmy

Jimmy — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I would like to point out to one piece of stat here. The ICTY has indicted 161 people where overwhelming majority of them are Serbs, for war crimes committed in the last decade of the Balkan wars. Out of 161 more than 50 have been sentenced to over 700 years in prison.

When we may agree that most of the alleged crimes were committed by Serbs, the disparity in indictments is truly shocking.

Cosmin

Cosmin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The world is strongly behind an independent Kosovo save a few rogue nations. This verdict will go a long way in making Kosovo a viable country as Ramush Haradinaj is one of the better respected leaders in Kosovo who enjoys more credibility than most.

Alexander

Alexander — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It is an insult to the victims of Ramush Haradinaj’s crimes. The Hague Tribunal is impartial as we have always suspected. This shocking acquittal has proved beyond doubt that it is biased against Serbia.

Laura

Laura — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

UNMIK bosses and its ex-chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen, are the ones behind this shocking acquittal. This is absolutely unacceptable. Mockery of justice cannot have a better example.

Rape of Bosnian women is rape, rape of Croat is rape, rape of a Kosovar Albanian women is rape but rape of Serbian women is not rape. This is the reality of the Hague Tribunal trying Balkan war crimes.

Doug

Doug — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Reading this article has embarrassed me. Justifying a war criminal’s acquittal on whatsoever grounds is incomprehensible. If you asked me honestly, I would have liked to see even George Bush tried for war crimes. Unfortunately, the trials are set by the victors.

George

George — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Bad = Balkan wars

Worse = War crimes in the Balkan wars

Worst = Blatant mockery of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia by delivering justices like acquittal of butchers like Ramush Haradinaj while sentencing to long prison terms the Serbian perpetrators.

Two wrongs do not make one right.

I would like to add that Serbians are the worst war criminals but so was Haradinaj.

Edward

Edward — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Jimmy, As I have already said, the fact that Serbs initiated all four wars as aggressors outside of Serbia means that it is not that much of a shock that Serbs make up the majority of those charged with crimes.

Given the nature of many crimes, a grand total of 700 years is not that much when divided by 50. What is the value of the life of a resident of Sarajevo who died, or what about a resident of Vukovar? When you divide these by 700 it looks as though these people weren’t worth much at all... so maybe it wasn’t quite so harsh on the Serbs as you’re implying?

Edward

Edward — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Avadhut, War crimes are war crimes, yes this is true. But I think my point was clear too. The short sentence given to Naser Oric relates to the fact that even though crimes were committed by his men, the circumstances in which he found himself meant that his control was diminished over them. They lived in squalor, there was a huge influx of refugees, hindsight has shown us what sort of a beast Oric was defending against (8,000 died at the hands of his opposite number)... This is very diferent to having the might of the JNA behind you and killing/raping/plundering as you fancy. This is the reason why Oric could not be held totally culperable for events which transpired.

Edward

Edward — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Osman, yes, there is the chance that it will anger Serbs, but international justice should not be compromised for the emotions of people who have shown an utter disregard for the running of the Tribunal. Serbs need to realise that if they want there way then they must cooperate. It’s sad that this is how the world opperates, but that’s just how it is and doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. Everyone has their own interests and the Serbs are only harming themselves by not representing themselves in a constructive way. No hero (least of all Russia) is going to come running to their rescue.