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Karadzic Case Offers Court a Chance to Repair Its Image
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Other cases were withdrawn, transferred to national jurisdiction, or discontinued after the death of the accused.
Kavran rejected much of the criticism of the Milosevic trial. She said many of its problems were caused by Milosevic's poor health. Rather than all-day sessions Monday through Friday, the trial was reduced to three half-day sessions a week to allow Milosevic adequate time to rest, dragging out the proceedings.
"It was a large, complex and I would say unprecedented case," Kavran said. "Of course we learn from every case. And of course you always make mistakes, but you learn from them and try not to repeat them."
Kavran also disputed claims that the tribunal is too expensive. About 12 percent of the budget goes to legal aid for the accused, she said. The tribunal, which is located 1,000 miles from where the crimes took place, has to spend millions to conduct investigations.
A major trial at the tribunal costs about $50 million, according to Scharf. A "mega-trial" in the United States, such as the Oklahoma City bombing case, can cost $70 million or more.
Given the thousands of deaths associated with the indictment against Karadzic, the "per victim" cost is not unreasonable, he said: "The $50 million it costs for his trial is going to be a bargain from that point of view."
In Sarajevo, the Bosnian city to which Karadzic's forces laid siege for more than three years, news of the arrest led people to cheer and honk car horns.
But on the streets of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, the tribunal remains deeply unpopular, though the government of President Boris Tadic is cooperating with it.
"It's a first-class political court; it's a farce," said Jovo Bajic, 62, an unemployed man interviewed in central Belgrade. "Serbian people are unprotected there, and without any allies."
"The Serbian people don't trust The Hague; they think it's one-sided," said government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic. He said the acquittal in April of Ramush Haradinaj, a former Kosovo prime minister and the highest-ranking ethnic Albanian to be brought before the court, added to the public perception that the court is biased against Serbs.
"But we need to swallow a few bitter pills and keep developing," he said. "Serbia only expects a fair process. It's in the essential interest of Serbia to resolve its past."
Anastasijevic, the Belgrade journalist, said many people in each of the former Yugoslav republics see the tribunal as a political body trying to demonize them and sanitize their enemies' records. "It's very unpopular, but that's quite normal," he said. "No nation takes it kindly when their nationals are tried in a foreign country by foreign courts. I think it will take a generation in the Balkans before we can have a serious debate about war crimes."
