Monetary Awards For The Arrest Of Karadzic Will Remain Uncollected

Since July 21st, when war crimes fugitive and one of the most wanted criminals, Radovan Karadzic, was arrested, there had been speculations as to whether BIA, Serbian intelligence agency, had been tipped off. Today, this information has been confirmed. The informer was however anonymous, and the question if he was one of Karadzic's supporters remains unanswered. Two monetary awards, five million dollars offered by the American government and one million euros offered by the Serbian government, will therefore be given to the Serbian government.

This information was published in today's issue of Blic, Serbia's most popular newspaper. Their source has also said that, when arrested, Karadzic didn't try to deny his real identity. "He didn't accuse anyone, nor was he angry. He only said that his arrest is the beginning of the end of the Republic of Serbia."

Radovan Karadzic had been successfully evading arrest and ICTY trial for more than twelve years. He disappeared in 1997, after the Dayton Peace Process that ended the war in Bosnia. ICTY charges him for committing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica, having ordered slaughter of at least 7, 500 Muslims. He is also charged for authorizing shootings of civilians in the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo.

Many discuss the identities of his helpers. Although Karadzic has denied having had accomplices, it seems to be common knowledge that he had a group of supporters, presumably Serbian nationalists, who were willing to help him stay underground regardless of the awards. It is suspected that the informer, thanks to whom Karadzic will face trial, is one of his accomplices.

The arrest of Karadzic casts a different light over the future of Serbia. By catching him, pro-European Serbian government have proved that they really are doing everything in their power to catch the notorious wartime leaders.

Having caught two of the three most wanted Serbian war crimes fugitives, they are now one step away from starting negotiations with the European Union. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have no doubts that soon, Ratko Mladic who is charged with 15 counts of genocide, targeting political leaders, unlawful deportation of civilians, destruction of homes, and many more, will also be arrested.

During the war, Mladic was inferior to Karadzic. Now that the big fish is about to face the tribunal, there is no obvious reason as to why Mladic shouldn’t be arrested too.