In the 3rd of our series on Parkhurst prisoners, Island Echo examines the case of Radovan Karadžić, the Butcher of Bosnia, who is currently incarcerated at HMP Isle of Wight.
Genocide was never supposed to happen again. When the Allied soldiers discovered the Nazi Death Camps in Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen, the main perpetrators were hung. Surely, no one would surely attempt mass murder in ‘civilized’ Europe after the terrible and tragic events of the Holocaust.
But 27 years ago in Srebrenica, Bosnia, it did happen. The person held primarily responsible for the massacre of over 8,000 victims was Radovan Karadžić, leader of the Bosnian Serbs.
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Radovan Karadžić was born on 19th June 1945. He trained as a psychiatrist, then co-founded the Serb Democratic Party in Bosnia. When Bosnia voted to become independent of Yugoslavia, he became the first president of the breakaway Republic Srpska.
The Bosnian Serbs never wanted to become citizens of Bosnia and fought a bloody civil war against Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks to remain part of Greater Serbia. It was in this context that the genocide in Srebrenica occurred.
Srebrenica was a Bosniak enclave in Bosnian Serb territory. It had been declared a ‘safe haven’ for the Bosniaks by the United Nations. It was defended by 600 Dutch troops. But the Dutch completely failed to keep those they were supposed to protect safe.
In July 1995, Radovan Karadžić ordered his troops to liquidate the town. The Dutch, who were lightly armed and heavily outnumbered, offered no resistance.
Karadžić’s forces then massacred every man of military age in Srebrenica in what appears to have been premeditated genocide. But they did not spare the women and children.
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Bosniak coffins from Srebrenica
A Bosniak woman, Zumra Šehomerovic, claimed:
“The Serbs began to take girls and young women out of the group of refugees. They were raped. The rapes often took place under the eyes of others and sometimes even under the eyes of the children of the mother.
“There was a woman with a small baby a few months old. A Chetnik (Bosnian Serb soldier) told the mother that the child must stop crying. When the child did not stop crying, he snatched the child away and cut its throat.
“Then he laughed. There was a Dutch soldier there who was watching. He did not react at all.”
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Bosniak women mourn the death of their menfolk
In 2002, a Dutch inquiry into the Srebrenica massacre concluded that the Dutch mission was not well-considered and well-nigh impossible. The Dutch government accepted partial political responsibility for what happened and resigned.
After the Bosnian war, Radovan Karadžić became a fugitive from justice. He worked at a private clinic in Belgrade under an alias, specializing in alternative medicine and psychology.
He was arrested in Belgrade on 21st July 2008 and extradited to the Netherlands, where he was charged with 11 offences. On 24th March 2016, Karadžić was found guilty of the genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.
Srebrenica Memorial containing the names of all those killed in the massacre
In May 2021, it was announced that he would be transferred to a British prison HMP Isle of Wight, chosen because the prison’s population is predominantly sex offenders who have little political or religious interest and pose the least risk to him.
Karadžić objected to his transfer to the United Kingdom on safety grounds, citing the case of the former Serbian general Radislav Krstić, who had his throat cut by Islamic extremists at Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire.
For many Serbs, Karadžić is a hero rather than villain. He has had the support of their religious leaders, who described him as: “one of the most prominent sons of our Lord Jesus Christ working for peace”.
Some Serbs are not happy with the treatment Karadžić is receiving here. Over 120 Serb public figures have signed an open letter to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, criticising the British government for keeping the 77-year-old in substandard conditions.
The Serbian newspaper Vecernje Novosti said the Serb public figures urged Guterres to transfer Karadžić from HMP Isle of Wight to another prison because his rights are being ‘grossly violated’, his health could suffer and his life ‘will be endangered’. They claim that Karadžić isn’t able to meet his family or legal team, access a computer and is being kept in complete isolation and ‘exposed to psychological mistreatment’.
Graves of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre
In response, the British embassy in Sarajevo has said:
“[Karadžić ] has no special or different treatment. His access to media is subject to scrutiny because such contact may cause serious additional harm to his victims.
“These controls are in line with the law and the policies of the Prison Service of the United Kingdom, which apply to all prisoners in the UK.”
Organisations representing victims and survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacres have said:
“Please don’t buy into the provocations from Serbia – we, the victims, are deeply convinced that Radovan Karadžić enjoys the highest level of rights allowed as a convicted international criminal in accordance with the laws of Great Britain.”
This murderer should hang for what he’s done. Instead he’s being kept at the Tax payers expense, fed 3 times a day, bed and board and not have to worry about life’s problems.
Justice has most definitely not been done!
John A
3 years ago
This was curious news to me. I grew up within spitting distance of the prison complex — Parkhurst, as it was then. If I still lived in the neighbourhood, I would be spitting again.
IOW
3 years ago
He is now bunked and snuggled up with the paedos in parkhurst.
Sharon
3 years ago
Sometimes just a single bullet would do be better!
A lot of these special stories are highly disturbing IE. Doesn’t the Island have a few uplifting ones?
Jacob
3 years ago
Shouldn’t Blair be there too!
June
3 years ago
Blimey – reading this I am surprised he is still alive. Obviously Putin is a fellow follower of his beliefs, unless it is something instilled in these people when young. May he rot in hell, but we know he wont as he is being fed, watered and kept warm, at our expense; which is more than some free people are getting in this country or around the world.
What many of you fail to realise is, we have allowed in countless just as evil people, like the gangs of ‘those who can’t be criticised’ who deliberately targeted young white British girls to gang rape, and then forced abortions only to rape them again.
This was not one ‘gang’ but several have done the same thing.
As the BBC dropped the news as quickly as it could, and the British people after having British children deliberately targeted in their OWN country, never rioted but meekly accepted, I then lost faith with the British.
Imagine IF it had been the ‘other way round’ the press would NEVER drop the story, and new laws of race rape would be made.
But as it is, we keep importing more unchecked masses, disgusting.
Not again do you ever play another record?he is a war criminal!not somebody who came to this Country voluntarily,he is responsible for ending the lives of many in the most horrific and barbaric way of keeping him in Parkhurst keeps him out of touch with supporters”sadly he still has them”then so be it!and Ivy look around we have many of our own delightful human beings already!but then that doesn’t suit your racial bigotry does it?.whilst agreeing with many a bullet or the noose would have been a far better way of dealing with him,that would make us as bad as him,and that doesn’t bear thinking about!
Because the UK is a participating supporter of the European Court of Human Rights at The Hague, in the Netherlands. It’s also the court that would be called on to try Putin — if they could ever get their hands on him. But there’s no death penalty in civilized countries. I would guess that Karadzic will be passed from country to country during his life sentence — but the genocidal monster is already 77, so that may not happen too frequently.
Davis Bryant
3 years ago
Blimey! I never knew he was in Parkhurst!
In that photo at the top of the page he looks like a cross between a certain former US President and Father Ted!
This is great thank you
This murderer should hang for what he’s done. Instead he’s being kept at the Tax payers expense, fed 3 times a day, bed and board and not have to worry about life’s problems.
Justice has most definitely not been done!
This was curious news to me. I grew up within spitting distance of the prison complex — Parkhurst, as it was then. If I still lived in the neighbourhood, I would be spitting again.
He is now bunked and snuggled up with the paedos in parkhurst.
Sometimes just a single bullet would do be better!
Why only a single, give a full cartridge
A lot of these special stories are highly disturbing IE. Doesn’t the Island have a few uplifting ones?
Shouldn’t Blair be there too!
Blimey – reading this I am surprised he is still alive. Obviously Putin is a fellow follower of his beliefs, unless it is something instilled in these people when young. May he rot in hell, but we know he wont as he is being fed, watered and kept warm, at our expense; which is more than some free people are getting in this country or around the world.
What many of you fail to realise is, we have allowed in countless just as evil people, like the gangs of ‘those who can’t be criticised’ who deliberately targeted young white British girls to gang rape, and then forced abortions only to rape them again.
This was not one ‘gang’ but several have done the same thing.
As the BBC dropped the news as quickly as it could, and the British people after having British children deliberately targeted in their OWN country, never rioted but meekly accepted, I then lost faith with the British.
Imagine IF it had been the ‘other way round’ the press would NEVER drop the story, and new laws of race rape would be made.
But as it is, we keep importing more unchecked masses, disgusting.
Not again do you ever play another record?he is a war criminal!not somebody who came to this Country voluntarily,he is responsible for ending the lives of many in the most horrific and barbaric way of keeping him in Parkhurst keeps him out of touch with supporters”sadly he still has them”then so be it!and Ivy look around we have many of our own delightful human beings already!but then that doesn’t suit your racial bigotry does it?.whilst agreeing with many a bullet or the noose would have been a far better way of dealing with him,that would make us as bad as him,and that doesn’t bear thinking about!
Why are WE keeping him ?
Because the UK is a participating supporter of the European Court of Human Rights at The Hague, in the Netherlands. It’s also the court that would be called on to try Putin — if they could ever get their hands on him. But there’s no death penalty in civilized countries. I would guess that Karadzic will be passed from country to country during his life sentence — but the genocidal monster is already 77, so that may not happen too frequently.
Blimey! I never knew he was in Parkhurst!
In that photo at the top of the page he looks like a cross between a certain former US President and Father Ted!
Well he did end up on a craggy island.
Great snippets, please keep them coming. Thank you.
I thought he’d died years ago. It’s a wonder that they haven’t let him out to stroll the streets.