{
  "id": "96-404",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "96-404",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100584,
      "date": "1998-04-23",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:54:49.939941",
      "title": "Bosnia War Crimes: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and U.S. Policy",
      "summary": "War crimes were an integral part of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Bosnian Serb militias drove\nhundreds of thousands of non-Serb civilians from their homes, committing tens of thousands of acts\nof murder, rape and torture, in a systematic policy of \"ethnic cleansing.\" Most observers believe\nmost war crimes committed by the Bosnian Serbs from 1992 until the end of the war in 1995 were\na vital part of the political and military strategy of Bosnian Serb leaders. Although Serbs are seen\nby many observers as the main culprits, Croats and Muslims also committed substantial numbers of\nwar crimes during the conflict. \n  \n Reports of war crimes in Bosnia have had an important impact on U.S. and Western policy\ntoward\nthe conflict. Pictures in Western media of Serb detention camps where inmates were routinely\nstarved, tortured and raped, as well as carnage caused by the shelling of Sarajevo, provoked\ninternational outrage and calls for (usually unspecified) action. U.S. and European policymakers felt\na need to respond to the emotional issue of war crimes, but did not want to be drawn into the\nBosnian war as combatants or policemen. The U.N. Security Council established The International\nCriminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on May 25, 1993 (Resolution 808). It is the first\ninternational tribunal for prosecution of war crimes since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials fifty years\nago. The Tribunal initially got off to a slow start in part due to difficulties in finding judges and\nprosecutors, and inadequate funding. As of April 1998, however, 74 suspects are known to be\ncurrently under indictment for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Fifty-six of the\nsuspects are Serbs, 15 are Croats, and 3 are Muslims. 26 of the 74 suspects are in custody at present. \nOne suspect was killed while resisting arrest, a second released pending trial. The first war crimes\ntrial began on May 7, 1996. The suspect, Dusan Tadic, was found guilty on May 7, 1997. A second\nsuspect pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 1996. There are currently four trials\nunderway.\n  U.S. policymakers are faced with the issue of how to combine support for the Tribunal with\nprogress on implementing the Bosnian peace accords. Some observers believe that vigorous pursuit\nof war criminals may hurt the peace process. They feared that the Bosnian Serbs could stop\nimplementing the peace accord or engage in acts of violence against peacekeepers. This concern\nappears to be one reason why IFOR and, for at least the first six months of its tenure, SFOR, \nappeared reluctant to seize war crimes suspects. However, more recently, a consensus appears to\nhave emerged in the international community that the fact that war criminals remained at large \nundermined the implementation of critical civilian aspects of the peace agreement. In the longer\nterm, some observers believe that a lasting peace is impossible in Bosnia unless justice is done with\nrespect to war crimes. They believe that the recrimination can only give way to reconciliation if the\ndesire to assign collective guilt to another ethnic group and exact revenge is replaced by the desire\nto bring to justice the individuals of all ethnic groups who committed the crimes.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/96-404",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "European Affairs",
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}