SDA: Truth about genocide confirmed and deserved life sentence for the criminal

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The final verdict for war criminal Radovan Karadžić for genocide and crimes against humanity has historical significance and carries messages that need to be respected and understood by everyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond. The verdict against Karadžić confirmed the truth about the genocidal project that aimed to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina through the systematic extermination of primarily Bosniaks, but also other non-Serb populations, from the territory of RBiH under the political and military control of Karadžić's regime, the SDA announced. 

"The fact that Karadžić was at the head of a joint criminal enterprise responsible for the most brutal violations of international law since World War II, through mass killings, persecution, torture, and rape, as well as the destruction of Bosnian-Herzegovinian cities and villages, has been indisputably proven. Despite the fact that for the crimes in Bratunac, Foča, Ključ, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlasenica, and Zvornik the intent was not qualified as genocidal, it remains a fact that they were also proven and punished, and through documented evidence in the proceedings, their essence was definitively determined. Although the legal truth was not fully pronounced without these seven municipalities, this verdict, along with other Hague verdicts, represents the only internationally relevant legal framework that unequivocally indicates that there cannot be three truths about the war in BiH, but only one to which this verdict is closest.

The life sentence imposed represents partial satisfaction for the victims, an expression of understanding from the civilized world for the suffering of the people in BiH, and an important message that justice is slow but achievable.

We call on all political representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina to face the truth and acknowledge the facts contained in the Verdict, and not to place the burden of the committed crimes on the entire Serb people, but on Karadžić and other convicted members of the JCE responsible for genocide. Only on truth can we build the necessary trust among peoples, and thus guarantee a safer future for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the generations to come," the SDA announced.