War Victims Hail Karadzic Arrest

CHAN: Radovan Karadzic was arrested by Serbian authorities near Belgrade after 11 years on the run. The former Bosnian Serb wartime president has been charged with genocide by the U.N. He believed to be responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of people during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. STORY: Srebrenica will forever be a byword for genocide - and a stain on the reputation of the United Nations. The Potocari cemetery and memorial center is a place of mourning and remembrance for the 8,000 victims of the Srebrenica massacre. Situated in what is now Bosnian-Serb territory, it's not an easy place for Bosnian Muslims to return to. Hatidza Mehmedovic lost her husband and two sons. She welcomed the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, accused of masterminding the 1995 slaughter, even if it was long overdue. [Hatidza Mehmedovic, War Victim]: "It was a real surprise for me. I was astounded because there was no indication that he would be arrested. But there it is, justice is achievable after all." The ethnic cleansing of Srebrenica - a U.N. safe-haven - took place during the closing stages of the 44-month-old war. Bosnian Serb forces rounded up the Muslim population, under the gaze of Dutch peace keepers assigned to protect them. Families were separated: women and young children were loaded on to buses and driven to the front lines. From there, they were forced to walk across no-mans-land to reach the Bosnian-controlled town of Tuzla. Their men and boys were taken into the woods of eastern Bosnia and shot, their bodies bulldozed and dumped in mass graves. It was Europe's worst slaughter of civilians since World War II. 13 years on - and Srebrenica's victims are still to be fully accounted for - only 3,000 identified remains have been laid to rest in the Potocari cemetery - a process Forensic experts say will take years to complete.

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YouTube | July 28, 2008

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