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| “Old age should not afford protection to people who committed very serious crimes — that’s not a defense”: A warning to the former KR |
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
By GREGORY KATZ
The Associated Press
LONDON — It has become a common sight: an elderly, shrunken, hollow-eyed suspect brought to trial decades after being accused of horrific war crimes. They may be too aged to fully participate in their defense, or too debilitated by disease to endure a lengthy court case.
Now it is former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic arguing he is too weak to stand trial. His lawyer said Monday that Mladic, 69, would die before his trial begins if he is extradited to the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague to face genocide charges. He is said to have suffered several strokes and to have difficulty speaking.
Time and again, the questions have arisen: Are you ever too old or too ill to be judged for your past? Are justice and the public interest served by trying such infirm people? Most experts say it’s justified — arguing responsibility doesn’t diminish with age, especially set against the enormity of the crimes.
“Old age should not afford protection to people who committed very serious crimes — that’s not a defense,” said Efraim Zuroff, who pursues elderly Nazi war criminals with the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
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