Or just be dumped in the middle of Srebrenica to take his chances?

Well he won’t hang, the war crimes mob don’t do capital punishment.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands doesn’t issue death penalties out. Mladic will be sentenced to life imprisonment, the ICJ’s most severe sentence. Protocol 13 of the ECHR prohibits the death penalty.

As a rule I’m against the death penalty but for his unthinkable brutality I could be persuaded to make an exception.

glass fronted cell (bulletproofed), open access to the front of it for the public, 18hr a day ?

I think the common procedure in these situations is to have him deny everything for about 18 months, wasting X million Euros in the process, then report his demise after suffering a fatal “heart attack” a couple of weeks before the final trial date.

Capital punishment is a brutal throwback to an earlier age of savagery, and has no place in a civilised society.

But in answer to your question: yes.

Or just be dumped in the middle of Srebrenica to take his chances?

Protected by Dutch troops …

That’s completely unnecessary DrJ, 400 peacekeepers outnumbered 3 to 1 (by conservative estimates) in a “vulnerable island amid Serb-controlled territory” trying to protect 25,000 civillians? What could they have done?

Its an interesting position.

My main objection to execution is the possibility of miscarriages of justice but I don’t see how that could happen here. He was the man in charge and he gave the orders that lead to the crimes.

Still not sure it is right tho

We’re talking about Nemanja Vidic here, right?

TandemJeremy – Member

Still not sure it is right thoIt’s never right.

You cannot condem brutality by committing it.

Of course he shouldn’t be murdered.
You’re either for capital punishment or against it there’s no “erm….sometimes maybe”
Fair play to the Serbs for serving him up, they really really want EU membership don’t they?

druidh – Member

It’s never right.

backhander – Member

Of course he shouldn’t be murdered.

jasn – Member

You cannot condem brutality by committing it.

Ta for the reminders. You are right

The Serbs may have finally handed him over, but for how long has he been protected by the very same Serbian Authorities who dobbed him in?
I don’t believe he has been hiding in Serbia for 16yrs without the Serbian State – or elements within it – being complicit in his disappearance.

Does the EU really want these people as members? The old argument about being a bulwark against communism doesn’t hold up anymore and i for one would be very uncomfortable about having Serbia as an EU partner with all that it entails.

That’s completely unnecessary DrJ, 400 peacekeepers outnumbered 3 to 1 (by conservative estimates) in a “vulnerable island amid Serb-controlled territory” trying to protect 25,000 civillians? What could they have done?

Nothing except enjoy a nice drink, apparently.

I thought we were talking about Blair who visited death and destruction on thousands of Iraqis.

Maybe he’s next?

Well he didn’t actually commit the crimes himself did he, I mean, it’s not like he was directly responsible for the death of Baby P. He was just in charge of the organisation that was responsible.

Oh wait hang on, I’ve got my threads mixed up.

Nope. You’re right. He should hang.

You cannot condem brutality by committing it.

You could argue life in prison is more brutal than a sleepy injection.

I’d take the injection any day.

That’s completely unnecessary DrJ, 400 peacekeepers outnumbered 3 to 1 (by conservative estimates) in a “vulnerable island amid Serb-controlled territory” trying to protect 25,000 civillians? What could they have done?

Gone out fighting!

I heard the recording of some of his orders (translated) to shell Srebrenica, very chilling. Still the death penalty would be a very poor signal to send and make him a martyr.

Well he didn’t actually commit the crimes himself did he, I mean, it’s not like he was directly responsible for the death of Baby P. He was just in charge of the organisation that was responsible.
Oh wait hang on, I’ve got my threads mixed up.
Nope. You’re right. He should hang.

That analogy is so flawed I don’t even know where to start.

I just read the Wiki article on the Srebenica Massacre.

I hope the Dutch troops can live with themselves. Though, admittedly they were between a shitty rock and an equally shitty hard place.

As much as it would be tempting to kill him, I think a 10″ thick perspex box hanging in the main square of Srebenica where he has to live in his own excrement and urine for a period might be sufficient.

It must be remembered that there are countless soldiers who brutally raped defenceless women and children, slit babies’ throats who today walk free safe in the knowledge that they will (probably) never face justice for the terrible crimes they committed during that week.

It’s sickening now to read about it again.

I have two friends who were in Srebrenica when the Serbs came in, they were UK British soldiers, they tried for days to prevent the Serbs coming in, reporting to the highest level. The fault lays with the UN Cap badge we had to wear in the Balkans, waste of time and when NATO took the helm it began the end and they returned to Belgrade, one of the guys who witnessed the busses driving away with the women and kids and then the men being loaded into the trucks as never being the same since.

Should he not face trial because he is old, mental state of some doubt, fing right he should the folk he had killed were of the same age many of them they had no recourse.

Should he die, no he should die in prison end of.

Interesting argument of why all the guys who did the hands on killing should not be charged, in the ideal world they should but as they were threatened by force for non compliance to orders the rules of war dictate the commanders should be culpable and most have visited the Hague in the past years.

As a soldier i never expected to see the sites i saw and listen to the stories i heard there in Bosnia, terrible, bad time in European history.

I answer to the original question, no. I think Sadam should still be living in a prison.

Interesting post anokdale. I felt terrible reading about it again. I was probably out on the piss for my birthday the day it started…oblivious.

DD – Not nice seeing mass graves getting dug up but very satisfying arresting a few of the scum who did it and watching them fly off to the Hague.

They were still finding new mass graves in 2000 when I was there. Eerie place, it’s almost like you can feel the sorrow. Nice to help out the people though and very satisfying when you make one smile 😀
I’m fascinated by the whole event, you wouldn’t think that this could happen in modern Europe but it did and was widely supported in some of the countries involved.
Although I don’t agree with corporal punishment, Im not going to shed any tears that Arkan is not with us. He was about as bad as they get.

Dipped in Acid.

If we in the West use any kind of punishment other than straightforward imprisonment, it will legitimize the ugly brutal things that the less savoury regimes of this world get up to, and strengthen the hands of those who use state killing and torture to repress.

> Dipped in Acid.

Don’t give them ideas….

A friend of ours run this charity for Kosovo and apparently soon to run out of money given by the EU

Should he hang?
No.

Piano wire and a lamppost – an eye for an eye, like it says in the Old Testament.

oldnpastit – Member

If we in the West use any kind of punishment other than straightforward imprisonment, it will legitimize the ugly brutal things that the less savoury regimes of this world get up to, and strengthen the hands of those who use state killing and torture to repress.

Completely agree.

Anokdale

The fault lays with the UN

Yes. It was chance that the Dutch were there at the time, could have been troops from any nation. The UN rules of engagement and lack of air support played a massive role in the massacre. The Canadians who were in charge of the area before the Dutch withdrew because they said the policy of maintaining the safe haven was unsustainable.

Ming

Gone out fighting!

“Why didn’t the Dutch repel them?

There were just 400 lightly armed Dutch infantry – no match for thousands of Serbs backed by armour and artillery. The 10sq km area was impossible to defend with small arms and so few troops. That said, the Dutch denied Bosnian Muslim fighters the return of weapons they had surrendered to the peacekeepers, although they could not have defended Srebrenica for long in the face of a concerted attack.

Instead, the Dutch Commander, Colonel Ton Karremans, urged the Bosnians to withdraw from defensive positions south of Srebrenica where he believed that Nato aircraft would soon be launching air strikes against the advancing Serbs. But the air strikes never came and the Serbs took 30 Dutch soldiers hostage.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-big-question-why-are-dutch-soldiers-being-sued-for-the-massacre-at-srebrenica-849944.html

DrJ

Nothing except enjoy a nice drink, apparently.

I’m reading that as “I don’t have a clue what they could have done”.

I’m reading that as “I don’t have a clue what they could have done”.

Obviously I don’t have the perfect solution, but giving up thousands of innocents to slaughter must have been the absloute worst option. Maybe if the Dutch had stood firm and said “we can’t stop them, but in going through us, they will have crossed a line”, then the Serbs may have paused. Who knows. Easy to be wise in my armchair after the fact, but I can’t help thinking that signing up to the forces and then just thinking about saving your own skin, hobnobbing with the enemy, and then claiming a medal for your trouble is the height of dishonour.

I went in there a few days after it had been done to resupply some crypto to one of our comms detachments we had secreted in various locations, what we found will be with me forever, as I had been with our ops officer doin the rounds it was just us two and we hadn’t even heard what was going on as we had been on the road for a few days it was a bit of a shock to say the least. they should throw him to the dogs but it wasn’t a one sided war just more was heard about some things than others. No of the factions can claim to be blameless

Also the dutch lost a number of troops , I know this as I helped collect together body parts. Not pleasant.

Many people can point fingers and say what they would do but I dare say it might be a different answer sat in a comfy chair at home to the one you give in the heat of the moment

BBC interviewed a Serbian patriot last night who said that Mladic shouldn’t be tried because US and UK generals are not going to be tried for their “war crimes” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Isn’t that a bit like saying people shouldn’t be tried for murder because other people get away with it?

I don’t think Bush and Blair went in with the intention of exterminating civillians though did they?

Quite. Hence, my use of quotes. My point, though, is that they were crimes of a similar nature, in the mind of the interviewee…

Thought for some reason this might be about Levi Bellfield, but all the same, its a yes in both cases for me!

Rusty nail through various non essential body parts, followed by a swift dose of vinegar – repeat daily