When a notorious thug like Serbian Zeljko 'Arkan' Raznatovic is assassinated, there is a general tendency to welcome the death as an appropriate fate for one whose name spelled terror to thousands.
In fact, the killers have impeded the course of justice. They have denied Arkan's surviving victims and the families of those he is alleged to have murdered their right to see him brought to trial and to answer before the world at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
The motive for his death is not yet established, and may never be known. Many petty warlords were involved in a variety of criminal activities, before and during the Balkans conflict. Now that a slender peace prevails, their enemies are legion. They are often in more danger from former comrades in arms than from the people they preyed upon during the conflict.
But if they have become today's haunted men, skulking behind guarded walls and driving around in heavily armoured vehicles, their abiding fear should not be vengeance, but justice. They must live in the certain knowledge that no matter how long they remain at large, their names are written on a charge sheet at The Hague. Eventually, they will be brought there to face their accusers on the world stage and to pay the price.
That was the fate of five Bosnian Croats who massacred 100 Muslims in 1993. On Friday, they were sentenced to prison terms of up to 25 years. More will follow.
Revenge is simply another form of barbarism, perpetuating violence. Far more important is the need to stop such incidents in future by ensuring that these people undergo due process of law and confront the consequences of their acts. A proper trial gets at the truth. An assassination or the death of a tyrant ensures that the facts may never be known. It allows lesser or greater players to escape unscathed.