A truth verdict against state-backed Rambos
A U.N. court links former Serbian officials to militias that killed civilians in the 1990s Balkan wars. That鈥檚 a lesson for the war in Ukraine.
Former head of Serbia's state security service Jovica Stanisic appears in court at the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, Netherlands, May 31.
Reuters
A deceitful tactic in modern conflicts 鈥� a government鈥檚 secret use of Rambo-style proxy militias to harm civilians and thus avoid accountability 鈥� just received a major setback. A United Nations court in The Hague issued a final verdict last week confirming that two former security officials in Serbia helped set up 鈥渟pecial鈥� combat teams in the 1990s that killed thousands of non-Serbs during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia.
The verdict 鈥� which took 20 years of legal proceedings 鈥� 鈥渓eaves no doubt about the involvement of Serbia鈥檚 police and security services in the wartime atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is something that Serbia鈥檚 authorities continue to deny to this day,鈥� concluded Amnesty International. The two former officials, Jovica Stani拧i膰 and Franko Simatovi膰, were given sentences of 15 years by the court, known as the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
The verdict creates a welcome precedent for finding the truth about atrocities committed by other so-called paramilitary groups in conflicts from Ukraine to Sudan to Syria. It might also help end the denial among many Serbs about the war crimes committed by government-backed groups like Arkan鈥檚 Tigers and the Scorpions during the Balkan wars.
鈥淲ithout the truth there鈥檚 nothing and each lie provokes another lie,鈥� Goran Zadro, a Croat who survived an attack in 1993 by Serb forces, told Balkan Insight. 鈥淗ere, each community has its own truth.鈥�
Even though the verdict was a long time coming, the international prosecution of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia has provided a lesson for Ukraine. Soon after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian officials began to probe the killing of civilians by both Russian military and the mercenary force known as the Wagner Group. The evidence collected so far 鈥� even as the war rages on 鈥� could be useful later in linking Kremlin officials to alleged backing of militias that commit war crimes.
The May 31 verdict at the court in The Hague was a major step to establishing the truth and addressing impunity, said Volker T眉rk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. It exposed the tactic of a government supporting an armed group to do the 鈥渄irty work鈥� of killing innocent civilians and violating international norms of conduct in war. It also set a primary example, writes journalist Marija Ristic in Balkan Insight, 鈥渙f how justice for the crimes of state-sponsored paramilitary groups is an achievable goal.鈥�