Episode 1:
Right To Truth and The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: In Conversation With Vladimir Petrovic
PODCAST
The 20th century witnessed numerous and varying degrees of human rights violations perpetrated by a state. The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate yet related wars that exhibited distinct war crimes reminiscent of the crimes committed during World War II.
In this episode, Dr. Petrovic provides the audience with thought-provoking questions and answers on how to conceptualize and realize the truth, and right to truth in the context of former Yugoslavia. He also discusses the origins of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the practical motivations for establishing it, the challenges faced, the successes of the tribunal, and its impact to wider society. Dr. Petrovic also touches on the complimentary yet complicated relationship between judicial tribunals and truth commissions. He ends with an important note on the entanglements between judicial and historical truth.
About the Guest:
Vladimir Petrovic researches mass political violence and strategies of confrontation with its legacy. He graduated from Contemporary history (Faculty of Belgrade: BA and MPhil) and Comparative history of Central and Southeastern Europe (Central European University: MA and PhD), completing his postgraduate studies at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam.
His latest book The Emergence of Historical Forensic Expertise: Clio takes the Stand (Routledge, 2017) examines the role of historians and social scientists as expert witnesses in some of the most dramatic legal encounters of the 20th century. Petrovic was himself working in this intersection between history and law, both in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and in the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. He published extensively on ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and attempts to undo its legacy, as well as on the history of nonalignment during the Cold War. He is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History in Belgrade, as well as Visiting Professor at History and Legal Department of Central European University
