War criminals UNpunished

A while back I posted on the early release from prison of convicted war criminal Miroslav Kvocka. Kvocka was released after serving four years of a seven year sentence for persecution, torture and murder. The full text of the ICTY's decision was not then available but is now online. Basically it states that, even though Kvocka's crimes were "particularly grave", he's actually a pretty nice guy. His sentence has therefore been commuted.

Kvocka is insignificant compared to Vladimir Lazarevic, who has yet to be tried but stands accused of:

... four counts of crimes against humanity and one count of violations of the laws or customs of war. The indictment alleges that the forces of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia "acting at the direction, with the encouragement, or with the support of" Vladimir Lazarevic, murdered hundreds of Kosovo Albanian civilians as part of a widespread and systematic campaign of brutality and violence that resulted in the forced deportation of approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians from October 1998 until June 1999.

(For the full text of the indictment go here.)

Why was Lazarevic's release ordered today after being in the ICTY's custody only since February 3? In the words of the Tribunal:

“The gravity of the charges cannot by itself serve to justify long periods of detention on remand.”

In short, it wouldn't be nice to hold him until his trial starts, probably in 2006.

Will the MSM pick up on this? Don't count on it.

War criminals of the world take note, the UN is going to hunt you down and treat you real nice.