It has had a chequered history. Now, the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) faces a pivotal moment. This December it will pronounce its long-awaited verdict on Bosnian Serb politician Radovan Karadžić, after one of the most eventful and complicated trials in recent times.
Karadžić stands accused of authorizing war crimes against non-Serbs during the 1992-96 Siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. He evaded the authorities until 2008 and, following his indictment, the Tribunal received countless accusations of third-party involvement, with credible sources claiming that a 1996 deal with peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke, offering protection to Karadžić if he withdrew from public life, had been reversed.
