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Karadzic Arrest Shows the Hague's Value

Even warrants can hurt bad actors

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 23, 2008 11:09 AM CDT

(Newser) – For all those who doubt the effectiveness of an International Criminal Court warrant, just look at Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Samantha Power imagined the arrest differently when she was reporting from Sarajevo in 1995, but his diminished circumstances now show just how crippling and demeaning it is to run from the international community, she writes in Time.

Though the ICC has been dragged through the mud for trial delays and the failure to capture fugitives like Karadzic, just the threat of arrest is an international good. It can “establish a historical record,” Power writes, and “provide dignity to victims,” but most of all, it effects the “stigmatization and incapacitation of really bad people. Even to the world's worst actors, that can be a powerful incentive to behave.”

Bosnian Muslim women weep near remains of relatives during a mass funeral for 70 Bosnian Muslims today.
Bosnian Muslim women weep near remains of relatives during a mass funeral for 70 Bosnian Muslims today.   (AP Photo)
Karadzic attends a conference under the false identity of Dragan Dabic in January.
Karadzic attends a conference under the false identity of Dragan Dabic in January.   (AP Photo)
Karadzic, before and after.
Karadzic, before and after.   (AP Photo)
Karadzic in 1995.
Karadzic in 1995.   (AP Photo)
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic holds a knife he said was seized from Croat soldiers in Bosnia, 1992.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic holds a knife he said was seized from Croat soldiers in Bosnia, 1992.   (AP Photo)
Serbian police patrol the court where war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic is being held, in Belgrade.
Serbian police patrol the court where war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic is being held, in Belgrade.   (AP Photo)
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