An Open Letter to Radovan Karadzic. You have quoted the Chinese proverb: ‘He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them.’

Mr Karadzic, I have not met you before and I am not seeking to give you any advice. But now that your situation has changed so brutally, you may like to reflect on what the future holds for your country and for yourself.

In many ways, you are a man of the past. Your father was a Chetnik – a royalist resistant during WWII, later to be ruthlessly imprisoned by Tito. You followed your father’s nationalist convictions. However in the 80’s, as you were in the early stages of your political career, the world had changed radically.

France and Germany had shown that deep change of attitude and a true reconciliation between former archenemies were possible; yet, being from a French family with roots near the German border, I can assure you that hate and mistrust of the Germans ran very high in families like ours, having suffered death, pillage and possibly torture at the hands of the Germans. After a meal, it wasn’t uncommon for my grandfather, a former WWI combatant, to conclude ironically: ‘So much the Germans won’t ever get.’ But France and Germany chose the most difficult road, reconciliation, because straight after WWII courageous individuals made it their life’s priority, a number of them linked with the world network of Initiatives of Change. In the 80’s, three decades of European history had also shown the immense benefits of such an attitude.

Another quite significant turning point was when Germany renounced all its territorial claims East of the Oder-Neisse line, showing that renouncing a territory, no matter how important to your nation’s soul, can be the way forward. You may remember the shock when German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt in front of Warsaw ghetto memorial back in 1970. This gesture, wrote German President Richard von Weiszäcker, is what made it possible for the European Union to enlarge further to the East. The same day, Willy Brandt had done the most difficult thing a German chancellor ever had to do, in giving up Silesia and East Prussia. And yet he knelt down publicly to acknowledge and ask forgiveness for the crimes committed by his people in Poland. This is how politicians sometimes grab their opportunity to change the world. Again the fallout has been exceptional. Swift economic development is now improving the lives of tens of millions in Central Europe, mostly in Slav countries. I have lived most of the last three years in Slovakia, and believe me, they have not renounced their Slav identity, which they have had to defend in the course of history against the Magyars, the Turks and the Austrians: pretty much the same story as that of Serbia, Montenegro or Bosnia. I have learnt the Slovak language which has much in common with Serbian. I feel close to your region and that is why I long for you to turn from a man of the past into a man of the future.

You will no doubt soon be facing a tribunal. Your obvious, predictable path is to follow the same course of denial and self-justification that most of those indicted before you have chosen to follow. I won’t dwell on the technical and moral difficulties of denying well-documented acts and facts. But you have another choice. The choice of the future for the Serbian people of the Republika Srpska of Bosnia Herzegovina as well as the Serbian people of the Serbian Republic or anywhere else. The choice to be a healer, to tell millions of bitter Serbians who respect or admire you that the world has changed and that there is a bright future out there for those who live in peace with their neighbours. You can demonstrate the choice of the brave today: honesty about your community’s and your personal past. It is painful but it could lead a whole people back into the European family and into economic development.

You are aware of all this, as is demonstrated by your choice of the Chinese proverb on the website of a certain Dr Dragan Dabic: ‘He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them.’ Dr Dabic, it has now been revealed, is you.

The whole world will be watching you. Show us that you are and will remain a free man.