Bećirović: Karadžić's Verdict is a Final Verdict on the Greater-Serbian Project to Destroy Bosnia and Herzegovina

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The second-instance verdict against the criminal Radovan Karadžić is a judicial verdict against the president of the illegal so-called RS, who was an exponent of the ideology and policy of Greater Serbian nationalism of the Serbian political, military and police regime, according to the commentary by Denis Bećirović, Vice-President of the SDP BiH and delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament, on the occasion of Radovan Karadžić's verdict.

"Milošević's regime planned, organized, prepared, and carried out aggression against the internationally recognized state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Karadžić, with the full support and instructions from Serbia, organized a political and armed rebellion against the constitutional order of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which constitutes the most serious criminal offense in all socio-political systems. The verdict against the criminal Karadžić is also a judicial and historical verdict against the criminal project of creating Greater Serbia. The verdict against the criminal Radovan Karadžić for the most monstrous crimes and genocide after World War II has global, historical, moral, political, and legal aspects. This is one of the most important verdicts for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region, and Europe in the 21st century," says Bećirović.

He adds that the verdict against the criminal Karadžić is not only a verdict on his individual criminal responsibility but also "a historical verdict on the criminal Greater-Serbian project that attempted to dismember and destroy the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina through genocidal policy.".

"Judicial verdicts against Radovan Karadžić and other criminals have important legal and political consequences because it is now globally, scientifically, and judicially proven that the key founders, creators, and representatives of the criminal para-state entity of the so-called RS were part of a joint criminal enterprise. The life sentence for the criminal Radovan Karadžić cannot be sufficient satisfaction for the surviving victims of genocide and their families, but it represents a small part of justice that provides hope and obliges us to be vigilant so that genocide never, ever, anywhere happens again. However, today's verdict against the criminal Karadžić is not complete. The conclusion of the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts in The Hague that genocide was not committed in seven Bosnian-Podrinje municipalities (Prijedor, Vlasenica, Zvornik, Bratunac, Foča, Ključ, and Sanski Most) is immoral and unjust," Bećirović stated.

He notes that after the second-instance verdict against the criminal Radovan Karadžić, the United Nations, the EU, the USA, and the entire democratic world have a civilizational obligation to stop the glorification and decoration of legally convicted war criminals.

"It is unacceptable that in Serbia and the BiH entity of RS, the verdicts of the International Court of Justice, the ICTY, the Constitutional Court of BiH, the Resolution on Genocide of the European Parliament, the resolutions of the US Congress, the resolution of the Parliament of Canada, the resolution of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the resolution of the Parliament of Australia, and the resolutions of numerous other countries around the world are still not respected. It is high time for the highest officials of Serbia to stop the immoral policy of denying the judicially and scientifically proven genocide against Bosniaks and to start believing tens of thousands of documents and evidence, verdicts of international and domestic courts, scientific evidence, satellite imagery, mass graves, and numerous other globally proven facts. The verdict against the criminal Karadžić is a great opportunity to finally stop the anti-civilizational policy of systematic denial of the nature of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the scale of genocide and mass war crimes," says Bećirović.

The Vice-President of SDP BiH adds that the verdict against the criminal Radovan Karadžić is also a great opportunity for Serbia to clearly distance itself from the architects, organizers, and perpetrators of genocide and mass war crimes.

"Condemnation and rejection of criminal and Greater-Serbian policy should contribute to the stabilization of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. The future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the region does not lie in hegemonic policies, conflicts, and quarrels. Condemnation of criminals and their policies is an important prerequisite for strengthening good neighborly relations, the economy, and Euro-Atlantic integration in the region. It is time to decisively and thoroughly break with criminal policies and begin the process of awareness and pursuing a rational and peaceful policy," concluded Bećirović.