Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic Wednesday had his sentence increased to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal.
The International Criminal Tribunal cast the final judgement on whether or not to overturn Karadzic’s 2016 guilty verdict of genocide, regarding the Bosnian war (1992 – 1995) in a trial which took 7 years to complete.
He was sentenced to 40 years in prison as the 73-year-old was also found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He and his lawyers said prosecutors unfairly blackened his name and that Karadzic’s words were twisted during the seven-year trial and wanted to overturn the conviction.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence and a second genocide conviction for his alleged role in a policy of targeting non-Serbs across Bosnia in the early years of the war.
Around 100,000 people died and millions became homeless during the war which resulted in the collapse of former Yugoslavia.
Radovan Karadzic was a former Bosnian Serb politician and convicted war criminal who served as the President of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War and sought the unification of that entity with Serbia.
Karadzic went on the run for 12 years after he was initially indicted and was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. Karadzic is sometimes referred to in Western media as the “Butcher of Bosnia”.
Via Euronews
