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U.N. War Court Makes "Historic" Ruling In Bosnian Serb Rape Trial
THE HAGUE, Feb 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.N. war crimes tribunal's decision to treat rape as a crime against humanity was broadly welcomed as three Bosnian Serbs began jail terms of up to 28 years.
According to the BBC, the verdict passed on the men, accusing them of systematic sexual violence against Muslim women during the Bosnian war, is the first conviction by an international court in Europe in which rape was formally classified as a crime against humanity.
Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic were found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of mass rapes committed by Bosnian Serb troops, using rape as "an instrument of terror" in the village of Foca during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, Judge Florence Mumba said at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, reports CNN.
Charges against the three also include torture, enslavement and violation of human dignity. Kunarac was sentenced to 28 years, Kovac to 20 years and Vukovic to 12 years.
In Thursday's case, Kunarac was found guilty on 12 of 21 counts in the indictment against him, including rape and torture, enslavement and violation of human dignity.
Kovac was found guilty on all four counts against him including rape, enslavement and violation of human dignity.
Vukovic was convicted on four out of eight counts, including rape and torture.
The charges said that Kunarac had commanded a special reconnaissance unit, and that in this capacity, "he knew or had reasons to know that his subordinates sexually assaulted Muslim women."
Women's groups hailed the verdict as a major victory for the recognition of women's suffering in war, as did Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department, saying they "commended the international tribunal for its pursuit of accountability in these matters."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, "This is a historic verdict."
"This is the first case before the international tribunal that has focused entirely on crimes of sexual violence and the first to enter a conviction for enslavement as a crime against humanity," Boucher told reporters.
"We strongly condemn the acts that led to this case and commend the international tribunal for its pursuit of accountability in these matters."
Today's decision was also significant for breaking old patterns by which international courts considered rape during war to be some lesser offense, if an offense at all. The decision "opens a whole new category" of war crime, Eugene R. Fidell, of the National Institute of Military Justice, tells the Washington Post.
"More so than the first cases, it brings awareness to women's suffering" said Gabriela Michkowsky, who works with rape victims from Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania.
"Even if it doesn't bring closure, the trial and then the conviction allows the victims to see that society recognizes the seriousness of their suffering," she said.
Lead Prosecutor Dirk Ryneveld also welcomed the ruling, saying: "This is unique, we are pleased by this conviction. It shows that this court takes these type of crimes seriously."
Ryneveld also commended "the bravery of the victims who came forward to tell their stories," reports the Post.
A Bosnian Muslim women's group, on the other hand, believed that the sentences were too lenient and that the victims were humiliated.
According to the indictment, many of the women detained at Foca during the period in question had been "subjected to humiliating and degrading conditions of life, to brutal beatings and to sexual assaults, including rapes and gang rapes."
In 1998, the statutes of the future International Criminal Court (ICC) established that "rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy or enforced sterilization" could be treated as crimes against humanity, "when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population."
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