Suing Karadžić

Extract

On 17 June 1996, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari submitted by counsel for Radovan Karadžić, the infamous Bosnian-Serb leader indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for various international crimes. Thus, the Court let the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the companion cases of Kadić v. Karadžić and Doe I and Doe II v. Karadžić, stand. The latter was a set of cases brought by Croat and Muslim citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the US courts against Radovan Karadžić after he was duly served process while in New York. The cases will now proceed, however slowly, with a trial on the merits, addressing the plaintiffs' claims concerning Karadžić's responsibility for acts of genocide; war crimes; torture; summary execution; related crimes against humanity; acts of rape; forced prostitution; forced impregnation; other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment; assault and battery; sexual and ethnic inequality; and wrongful death. As remedies, the plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees and, in one instance, injunctive relief.