ICTY Convicts Three for Rape and Enslavement as Crime Against Humanity

On February 22, 2001, the ICTY delivered its judgement in the Foca rape case. The judgement is of historic importance since it is the first time ever rape and enslavement were withheld as crimes against humanity by a judicial body. The three convicted persons, Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic participated in a Serb campaign to cleanse the municipality of Foca and the surrounding villages of Muslim presence. The campaign was not only directed against the Muslim armed forces in the area, but also against the civilian population of Muslim descent which was terrorized with the specific intent of forcing them out of the area: religious symbols and mosques were destroyed, Muslims were rounded up and the men were separated from the women and children and without justification detained in the Foca prison camp and people were mistreated and killed on the spot…[more]