Radovan Karadžić summary

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Radovan Karadžić, (born June 19, 1945, Petnijca, Yugos.), Bosnian Serb politician. He trained as a psychiatrist and also wrote poetry and children’s books. In 1990 he helped found the Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, when the Bosnian Serbs declared an independent state, he became its president. With the support of Yugoslav Pres. Slobodan Milošević and with Bosnian Serb military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic, Karadžić undertook a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia to purge it of non-Serbian peoples. In 1995 he was indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal. He was pressured into signing the Dayton peace accords and forced to resign as state president and party head in 1996. However, he continued to influence the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia and Herzegovina from a mountain hideaway outside Sarajevo. Despite attempts to arrest him, he was able to evade capture through the 1990s and into the early 21st century.

ethnic cleansing Summary

Ethnic cleansing, the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups. Ethnic cleansing sometimes involves the removal of all physical vestiges of the targeted group through the destruction

Bosnian conflict: destruction in Sarajevo

Bosnian War Summary

Bosnian War, ethnically rooted war (1992–95) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former republic of Yugoslavia with a multiethnic population comprising Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and Croats. After years of bitter fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army, Western

genocide Summary

Genocide, the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race. The term, derived from the Greek genos (“race,” “tribe,” or “nation”) and the Latin cide (“killing”), was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born jurist who served as

Adolf Eichmann listening to an Israeli court's verdict

war crime Summary

War crime, in international law, serious violation of the laws or customs of war as defined by international customary law and international treaties. The term war crime has been difficult to define with precision, and its usage has evolved constantly, particularly since the end of World War I. The