Recently, I watched an excellent interview of Kevin Jon Heller of Opinio Juris, a professor of international law as well as a defense adviser for Radovan Karadzic. Karadzic is a former Bosnian Serb leader who is currently being indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He is accused of genocide - namely, ethnic cleansing campaigns in Bosnia, as well as the 1995 massacre in Srebenica when Serb troops murdered about 8,000 Muslim men. Karadzic has been accused of some of the worst crimes in history — and Heller is responsible for defending him. The interview compares defending Karadzic with defending Hitler and asks: Would you defend Hitler?
This point is fascinating because it’s something people have been questioning for ages. Why - and how can you - ethically defend someone if you know they’re guilty? The reason is the honorable institution of the fair trial. Without defending both parties involved in any case, the right to a fair trial, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and a major civil liberty in so many countries around the world (at least on the books), is endangered. I’ve noted down the most important part of Heller’s interview below:
What really struck me was the same people who didn’t understand why I would be involved in defending a monster like Karadzic in the very next breath savagely criticized the U.S. governments for denying fair trials to the inmates at Guantanamo Bay. And I agree with the criticism of the way Guantanamo Bay detainees were treated….But it’s that blindness, that we care about giving fair trials to the accused terrorists , because I guess we think most of them are innocent, but we have no concern whatsoever with giving fair trials to someone like Dr. Karadzic. That’s what I don’t understand…The right to a fair trial extends back to the Magna Carta. This is not an optional human right that is less important than the rights of victims. I don’t think we should be prioritizing which of our human rights we want to take seriously and which we don’t want to take seriously. To not insist upon fair trials and the right of a good defense to every accused criminal regardless of our political sympathies to them, I just think is devastating to international criminal justice in general. — Kevin Jon Heller
Being a public defender is probably one of the most difficult jobs ever. You are constantly questioned by others about the ethics of your job, and why you would even think of defending someone who has done such horrible things. But we have to think back to one of our basic human rights - the right to a fair trial. Heller makes an excellent point in stating that every criminal, regardless of the level of their crimes, deserves a fair trial. Only then can we ensure that criminal justice institutions are fair enough to save those who are in fact innocent, and to ensure the appropriate justice for those who are guilty.
So, would YOU defend Hitler?
