Goran Hadzic (September 7, 1958 - July 12, 2016) was the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina during the war between Serbia and Croatia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia considers him guilty of crimes against humanity, as well as a violation of the laws and customs of war.
Hadzic was charged with fourteen counts. He was accused of involvement in "deportation, or the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Croats and other civilians of non-Serb origin." These actions took place on the territory of Croatia from June 1991 to December 1993; 20,000 people from the city of Vukovar are illegally resettled. In addition, Hadzic was accused of using forced labor of prisoners, the extermination of hundreds of civilians in dozens of Croatian cities and villages, including Vukovar, as well as the beatings, torture and killings of detainees.
Hadzic was hiding from the tribunal much longer than the rest of the defendants: the Serbian authorities managed to catch him only on July 20, 2011. The trial was discontinued in 2014 due to the fact that the accused was diagnosed with brain cancer.
early years
Hadzic was born in the village of Pachetine, in Croatia, which was then part of the SFRY. During his youth, he was an active member of the "Union of Communists of Yugoslavia." Before the Croatian war, Hadzic worked as a storekeeper and was also known as the leader of the Serb community in Pachetin. In the spring of 1990, he was elected to the Vukovar city committee as a representative of the "Union of Communists for Democratic Change."
On June 10, 1990, Goran Hadzic joined the Serbian Democratic Party (PSD), and after a while became chairman of its branch in Vukovar. In March 1991, he was appointed Chairman of the Vukovar City Committee, as well as a member of the Main and Executive Committee of the Serbian Democratic Party in Knin. In addition, he was the chairman of the regional committee of the same party and the leader of the Serbian Democratic Forum in the areas of Eastern Slavonia, Baranya and Western Srem.
Croatian war
Goran Hadzic was directly involved in the Plitvice Lakes incident, from which, at the end of March 1991, hostilities began between the Croatian army and units of the Serbian Krajina. On June 25, 1991, Serbs from the regions of East Slavonia, Baranya and Western Srem held a congress at which they decided to create the Serbian Autonomous Region (SAO) and secede from the Republic of Croatia, which was then still part of Yugoslavia. Hadzic was to become the head of the autonomy government.
On February 26, 1992, two regions of Western Slavonia joined the Serbian Krajina. Around the same time, Goran Hadzic replaced Milan Babić and became the new head of the unrecognized republic. Babich was ousted because he opposed Vance’s peace plan, so he ruined his relationship with Milosevic. Hadzic reportedly boasted that he was "the envoy of Slobodan Milosevic." He held a leading position until December 1993.
In September 1993, when Croatia launched Operation Medak Pocket, the President of the Republika Srpska Krajina sent an emergency request to Belgrade, hoping to receive reinforcements, weapons and equipment. The authorities of Serbia ignored the request, but a militant group of about 4,000 people (Serbian Volunteer Guard) under the command of Zeljko Razhnatovich, nicknamed Arkan, came to the aid of the army of Serbian Krajina. Hadzic’s reign lasted until February 1994, when Croatian politician of Serb descent Milan Martic was elected president.
After the operation "Storm" in August 1995, units of the RSK army in East Slavonia remained outside the control zone of the Croatian government. From 1996 to 1997, Hadzic was the head of the Srem-Baranya region, after which the region was peacefully returned to Croatia in accordance with the provisions of the Erdut Agreement. Later, Hadzic moved to Serbia. In 2000, in Belgrade, he attended the funeral of Zhelko Razhnatovich (Arkan) and spoke very respectfully about this man, calling him a hero.
War crimes charges during the war in Croatia
A Croatian court convicted Hadzic in absentia on two counts: in 1995, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for rocket attacks on the cities of Sibenik and Vodice; in 1999, another 20 years of imprisonment were added for war crimes in Tennya. Later, Hadzic was on the list of the most wanted fugitives on the Interpol line.
In 2002, the Croatian prosecutor's office brought another charge against Hadzic, representatives of the so-called “Vukovar Three” (Veselin Shlivanchanin, Mile Mkrsic and Miroslav Radic), as well as senior commanders of the Yugoslav People’s Army. They were found guilty of the murder of nearly 1300 Croats in Vukovar, Osijek, Vinkovci, upanje and some other localities.
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
On June 4, 2004, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) also accused Hadzic of war crimes.
He was charged with participating in 14 episodes of war crimes related to his alleged involvement in forced deportation and the killing of thousands of civilians in Croatia between 1991 and 1993. He was charged with the murder of 250 Croats in a Vukovar hospital in 1991; crimes in Dali, Erdut and Lovas; participation in the creation of concentration camps in Staichevo, Torak and Sremska-Mitrovica; as well as the senseless destruction of houses, religious and cultural monuments.
Escape
A few weeks before the arrest, Hadzic disappeared without a trace from his house in Novi Sad. In 2005, Serbian media reported that he was hiding in an Orthodox monastery in Montenegro. Nenad Chanak, leader of the Vojvodina Social Democratic League, claimed in 2006 that Hadzic was hiding in a monastery somewhere on Fruska Hill in Serbia. At one time, there were even rumors that he might be somewhere in Belarus.
In October 2007, the Serbian government council for national security offered 250 thousand euros for information that would help arrest Hadzic. In 2010, the amount of remuneration was increased to 1.4 million dollars. On October 9, 2009, Serbian police ransacked Hadzic’s home and seized some of his belongings, but made no statements.
After the arrest and extradition of Ratko Mladic, the penultimate warrior accused of war crimes, the European Union continued to insist on the extradition of Hadzic to bring him to trial. It was emphasized that while he is on the run, Serbia cannot count on rapprochement with the EU.
Arrest
On July 20, 2011, Serbian President Boris Tadic announced the detention of Hadzic and added that this arrest would complete the “difficult chapter” in the history of the Serbs.
Police found a fugitive near the village of Krushedol, located on the slope of the Frusky Range. Presumably, it was there that he was there all the time after the ICTY brought charges. The stolen picture of Modigliani's work helped investigators find his whereabouts. Hadzic was caught after trying to sell her.
At the time of his arrest, Goran Hadzic was the last defendant to appear before the ICTY. After the detention, court hearings on extradition began, and soon the special court recognized that all the preliminary requirements for the extradition of Hadzic to the Hague were met.
Reaction
After the detention of Hadzic, one of the obstacles to the rapprochement between Serbia and the European Union disappeared, and, as Western newspapers wrote, this country fulfilled its obligations to the international tribunal. EU leaders congratulated the Serbian leadership, calling the arrest a signal of Serbia’s readiness for a "better European future." Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said of the arrest: “Another good step has been taken. After Mladic was arrested, we told the Serbs that now everything depends on them, that they should take the last step and catch Hadzic. And this "Serbia must protect human rights, fight corruption and fraud, put in order the economy and ... cooperate with the International Tribunal for Yugoslavia. The last paragraph is fully implemented."
Approximately in the following vein, the Russian Foreign Ministry spoke about the arrest: “Goran Hadzic should be subjected to an objective and impartial trial, and his case should not be used to artificially drag out the ICTY.”
Extradition
On July 22, Justice Minister Snezhana Malovich stated that the defendant was sent to The Hague on a small Cessna plane. Before departure, Hadzic was allowed to see his sick mother, wife, son and sister, after which, accompanied by a convoy of jeeps and police cars, he left the detention center for war criminals and went first to Novi Sad and then to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The Croatian government then instructed its General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice to take all necessary measures and ensure that the Hadzic case was transferred to Croatia so that he could answer for other serious crimes that he was accused of in this country. There is a version that the Croatian government wanted to force Hadzic to serve two prison terms, to which he had previously been sentenced in absentia by a Croatian court.
Condemnation and death
The ICTY was read on July 25 and lasted 15 minutes. Goran refused to plead guilty of any crimes related to the war in Croatia. The lawyer appointed by the tribunal Vladimir Petrovich said that Hadzic did not intend to respond to the charges immediately, but was going to take advantage of the rights granted to him.
Hadzic did not plead guilty on August 24, during the second appearance before the court. Prosecutors announced their intention to call 141 witnesses, including seven experts. Testimonies taken from eighty-two witnesses were also announced, twenty of which should appear in court. The protocols of the interrogations of the remaining sixty-two people were presented as evidence, after which the defense had the opportunity to conduct cross-examination.
In total, prosecutors received 185 hours to interrogate witnesses and experts. The trial began on October 16, 2012. In November 2013, the prosecution completed the presentation of its arguments, and in February 2014, the court rejected the application for acquittal submitted by Hadzic. The petition alleged that the prosecutor did not provide sufficient evidence to convict.
In November 2014, Hadzic was found to have inoperable brain cancer. The trial was suspended because the defendant could not participate in it because of the side effects of the treatment. The prosecutor's office wanted to continue the process in his absence, but no decision was made on this issue. In April 2015, the court ordered the temporary release of Hadzic and his return to Serbia. Goran Hadzic died of cancer on July 12, 2016.