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Karadzic: Fighting an Enraged Bull or Attacking a Graceful Lamb?

Radovan Karadzic

01 March 2010  In his introductory arguments Radovan Karadzic says "the Serb forces" fought for the preservation of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that there was no plan for deporting non-Serbs from Serb territories.

"I am now before this Court in order to defend the greatness of a small nation which has suffered for 500 years and shows a great amount of endurance. I shall defend our thing, which is fair and sacred. We have good evidence and a good case. I would like to be given an opportunity to present my prepared defence," Radovan Karadzic said at the beginning of the presentation of introductory arguments.

The Hague Prosecution charges the former President of Republika Srpska, RS, with genocide committed in Srebrenica and ten other Bosnian municipalities, as well as with crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.

"I can recommend you a fun thing - turn all the Prosecution's allegations against me upside down and you will see that they are correct and it will be fun. (...) Serbs did not act. Serbs just reacted. (...) Serbs fought an enraged bull. The Prosecution is acting as if they attacked a graceful lamb and caused pain and damage to it," Karadzic said, adding that the Prosecution had a need to present him as a monster, because "it does not have evidence".

Speaking in court, Karadzic several times quoted parts of a hypothetic indictment he had created. In the indictment he switched places with "Muslims and Croats", claiming that his version was "far more convincing and correct".

Karadzic dedicated a large part of his introductory arguments to allegations that the fall of Yugoslavia had led to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because "the fundamentalist goals of Muslims" were "a hundred-percent Bosnia".

"Only one solution was to end up by starting a war. This solution was to create a sovereign and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Muslims have the same goal now and they will always have it. They are driven by some dark forces. I am not talking about all Muslims, but about a core of conspiracy. Why are they not on trial? Why were their criminals freed here, despite the fact that their hands were bloody? Our behaviour was one hundred percent conditioned by their behaviour," the indictee said.

Karadzic said that it was not the Serbs' goal to create Republika Srpska, but it was created "out of a need, as a painful compromise by the Serb party accepting to come out of Yugoslavia." He said that "the western services" had foreseen the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina "a long time before they even heard of Karadzic and the SDS".

Commenting on certain parts of the indictment and the crimes charged upon him by the Prosecution, Karadzi showed a recording of the Markale massacre made in February 1994, saying that "Muslims brought the corpses of soldiers and scattered them here".

Markale 1994.

"This was a wartime deceit. How does the Prosecution dare offer this to you asking you to accept this as a truth? There is no such marksman who could hit the market, at which there were no people, with one projectile and then, all of a sudden, there were hundreds of casualties. Bringing this before the court is the culmination. It is the gravest crime and injustice. It is an even worse crime than persuading the Muslims this was done by Serbs," Karadzic said.

During the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted for 1,425 days, a number of crimes were committed. The most memorable crimes were the shelling of Markale city market place in February 1994 and August 1995. More than one hundred people were killed and more than 200 were wounded on those two occasions.

"The second Markale incident, the one that happened in 1995, was technically better conducted, but the completely same technology and reasons were involved. (...) You will see, your Excellencies, many similar insinuated sad events, done by the opposite party against its people, in this court. I must draw your attention to the wartime tricks which the Prosecution has taken over, thus becoming a participant in this war," the indictee said.

Among other things, Karadzic denied the crimes committed in Trnopolje detention camp, in Prijedor municipality, claiming that this was a "reception center, controlled by the refugees themselves".

"This was a reception center, a starting point for people who did not have anywhere else to go due to the battles. This will be proved by the evidence, which the Prosecution is trying to use against us. (...) They detained and surrounded themselves with barbed wire. Journalists then took photos and sent it to the whole world. We suffered grievously because of that. How can this be brought to the Court and how can wartime deceit be continued before the Court and the image be created about Serbs?" Karadzic asked.

Trnopolje

As per the verdicts pronounced by the Hague Tribunal, Trnopolje was "a notorious and brutal detention camp", in which several hundred Prijedor residents were held in inhumane conditions.

The trial of Karadzic began with the presentation of introductory arguments by the Prosecution on October 27 and November 3, 2009. The indictee did not attend the hearings, claiming that he needed additional time to prepare his Defence. After that, the Registrar's Office appointed Richard Harvey as a Defence attorney to represent Karadzic if he still refused to appear in court.

During presentation of his introductory arguments, Karadzic was accompanied by two of his counselors. Harvey and his associate were present in court as well.

Due to the fact that the Trial Chamber rejected the indictee's request to postpone the trial for three and a half months on February 26, Karadzic said at this hearing that he has filed an appeal to this decision.

Karadzic is due to continue presenting his introductory arguments on March 2.