In Pursuit of Justice: Review of The Butcher's Trail by Julian Borger

If nothing else, Julian Borger notes in the final chapter of The Butcher’s Trail, the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) has made the Balkan wars the most well-documented and catalogued conflict in history.  In this meticulously researched account of the manhunt for the Balkan war criminals, Borger draws on this evidence, as well as extensive interviews, to chronicle the pursuit in fascinating detail, with the story rattling on in places like the paciest of spy thrillers.

They say truth is often more fantastical than fiction, and that proved to be the case in the work of the ICTY; from the bungled arrest of the wrong pair of identical twins, to a plan involving a gorilla suit, to Radovan Karadžić, political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, living the flamboyant cover story of a mythical healer in Belgrade.  Borger’s tale is layered with political intrigue; in this telling, prosecutors and investigators work tirelessly on a shoestring budget, against death threats and government roadblocks from all sides.

Nearly two decades after the fighting finally ended in the region, with all the indictees arrested and only one more verdict, that of Ratko Mladić, leader of the Bosnian Serb Army, left to be handed down (as well as Karadžić’s appeal against his 40 year sentence), it feels as though a chapter has been closed on a terrible era.  Justice has been served.

Mladić and Karadžić on trial in The Hague

Or has it?  Borger muses on this in his conclusion.  Many people in the former Yugoslav states do not think so, believing the tribunal to be either too one-sided or too lenient.  Borger describes the Scheveningen prison as a place of harmony, where former enemies play football and cook together, attend yoga classes and learn new languages, without regard for ethnicity.

Many indictees have been released early or acquitted, free to return home and stir up nationalistic hatred once more.  As for the tribunal's legacy, attempts to set up an International Criminal Court have been hampered by the most powerful nations, wary of the precedent set by the ICTY of holding leaders to account for the crimes committed by those beneath them.

Nevertheless, the ICTY has completed its mission.  All the indictees on its list have been brought to some kind of justice.  It was, as the book’s tagline states, the most successful manhunt in history.  The court's place in history, however, has yet to be decided.

The Butcher's Trail by Julian Borger, published by Other Press (January 2016).