Moral Maze - 28/10/2009

The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has opened at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He faces 11 counts of genocide, including complicity in the Srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed. It was one of the worst acts of atrocity in Europe since the Second World War. But is what we are about to see justice or revenge - A show trial organised by the victors, with TV coverage broadcast throughout the world, and eagerly viewed, especially in the Balkans. Can there ever be any morally certain and globally acceptable definition of what constitutes a war crime or will pragmatism and real politique always get in the way? Witnesses: John Laughland Author of Travesty: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic and the Corruption of International Justice, and A History of Political Trials from Charles I to Saddam Hussein. Geoffrey Nice The British QC who led the prosecution of the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosovic Professor David Chandler Professor of International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster and editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding Mark Ellis Executive Director, International Bar Association.