Never too late to try war crimes like Katyn

More than 70 years after the Katyn massacre, the European Court of Human Rights ruled last Monday that Russia was guilty of treating the relatives of the Katyn victims inhumanely. According to the left-liberal daily Delo the signal this verdict sends is important not just for Poland but also for the states of former Yugoslavia, which are still trying to track down war criminals: "They are seeking in vain because most countries still don't recognise the non-applicability of statutes of limitation on war crimes. Only a third of the members of the United Nations have signed this document - and none of the G8 countries have done so. This speaks volumes about the attitude towards war crimes in today's world. Numerous respected states have many sins on their consciences, stemming from World War II as well as later conflicts. For this reason these countries don't want their high-ranking officers and leading politicians to have to answer for their acts in court. ... The Katyn case demonstrates that it's not too late and that war crimes never come under the statute of limitations."

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