Ever wondered what life is like for a man (and it’s usually a man) awaiting trial for war crimes? Julian Davis Mortenson of the Independent writes about his visit to the UN detention centre in Holland, where the atmosphere isn’t quite how you would imagine it:
(Apologies for the long excerpt, by the way. But this is quite possibly the most thought provoking article I’ve read in years. I’d encourage you not just to read the except, but to take the time to read the whole article).
…as our small group was walking down one of the prison corridors, we heard the murmur of a small gathering. It turned out to be a cell-block celebration for a prisoner who was being released later that week. As we passed by the open door of the recreation room, McFadden leaned in and told the group that he would drop by for a chat once he’d seen us on our way. I glanced into the room while McFadden was talking, and there, plopped in the middle of about five other inmates, sat Slobodan Milosevic. His hair and casual clothes were rumpled, a piece of cake sat on a paper plate in front of him, and he was holding a bite halfway to his mouth on a plastic fork. Next to him at the low table, also sitting on the hard plastic seat of a primary-school-style chair, was one of the tribunal’s most prominent Bosnian Muslim defendants. The Yugoslav people, to the extent that they ever existed at all, have vanished from the face of the earth. But somehow an ersatz version lives on within the walls of this hi-tech jail, where Slobodan Milosevic – the Serb once known as the Butcher of Belgrade – can now share a quiet piece of cake with a Bosnian Muslim at a farewell party for their mutual friend.
I’d love to tell you what I do think about it, but to be honest, I’m really not sure at the moment.
I don’t have particular concerns about the guilt of these men, or nor do I belive that they shouldn’t face the harshest of punishmentss for their crimes. But it does make me wonder – how do people work. How do friends become mortal enemies, and then friends again.
Does this microcosmic example contain any lessons for future reconciliation between estranged peoples? I hope so.