Plavsic sentence shocks Muslims
Just as the Nuremberg Tribunal could not restore Europe and redress the wrongs done by Hitler's regime, neither can the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in the Hague make anyone whole. Yesterday's sentencing of Bosnia's "Iron Lady", Biljana Plavsic, is at least a step in the right direction.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Relatives of Muslim victims of the 1992-1995 ethnic purge by Bosnian Serb forces have condemned as too lenient an 11-year jail sentence for a former Bosnian Serb leader.
Biljana Plavsic, 72 -- the highest ranking Bosnian Serb leader to be brought before the U.N. war crimes tribunal at the Hague -- had pleaded guilty to the persecution of non-Serbs during the brutal purge of Muslims and other non-Serbs.
Yes, it is a relatively light sentence, and no, Plavsic is not part of the Serb's Holy Trinity of Evil. Slobodan Milosevic in on trial, at least, but it will be some time before a conviction is obtained. Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are still free and will likely remain so for some time. For now, then, this is the closest thing to a "victory" that the victims of Serb oppression will likely see for awhile. Not everyone is happy, but I think most will admit that it is better than nothing.
Judith Armatta, an expert on war crimes law at the Coalition for International Justice, said she was surprised at the brevity of Plavsic's sentence. But she said the decision was difficult because of the many mitigating factors.
"There should be more consistency in sentencing, but the rules are still being developed," she told The Associated Press. "This panel wanted to give some credence to her conduct, especially after the war."
Some Muslims gave Plavsic -- the woman once dubbed Bosnia's "Iron Lady" -- credit for admitting guilt, saying it may bring reconciliation among Bosnia's Muslims, Serbs and Croats.
Muharem Muselovic, a Muslim from the northwestern town of Prijedor, spent six months in the Bosnian Serb detention camps notorious for their cruelty to non-Serbs. Up to 3,300 Muslims and Croats were killed in the area.
"Eleven years for all those lives, for all the sufferings is only a drop in the ocean and we, the former camp inmates, cannot be satisfied with that," he told Reuters by telephone from Prijedor.
But fellow Serbs accused Plavsic of betrayal by admitting guilt.
"Biljana Plavsic has betrayed Serb people because she admitted guilt before the Hague court," said an elderly Serb, who watched the sentencing on television in a cafe in the Bosnian Serb wartime stronghold of Pale, near Sarajevo.
While the attention of the world is focused on Iraq, the countries that comprise the former Yugoslavia continues to make the transition to democracy. In an area with no democratic tradition or history, it's been no easy journey. Plavsic' sentence may not be all that some of us may have hoped for, but it at least sends the message that the carnage orchestrated by the Serb leadership was wrong. Ex post facto, it's probably the best we could have hoped for.
