veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

Dokumenta:
Download BIRN0203karadzic.mp3

Karadzic: Trial Temporarily Adjourned

Radovan Karadzic

02 March 2010  

The Trial Chamber adjourns the trial of Radovan Karadzic until a final decision about his trial postponement motion has been rendered.

Although it was originally planned to have the first Prosecution witnesses appear at the trial on March 3, the Trial Chamber has allowed Karadzic to file an appeal to the decision rejecting his trial postponement motion and has postponed the trial until the Appellate Chamber has rendered a decision concerning the motion.  

"The Chamber knows that the temporary suspension of the trial at this stage will have negative consequences for witnesses who have already arrived at The Hague. However, if the trial continued and the Appellate Chamber revoked the trial postponement decision, the witnesses would have to travel to The Hague for the third time," Trial Chamber Chairman O-Gon Kwon said.

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, RS, who is charged by the Hague Prosecution with crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the course of the war, asked for his trial to be postponed until June 17, 2010 in order for him to prepare his defence. On February 26 the Trial Chamber rejected this request.

On the second day of the presentaiton of introductory arguments, Karadzic argued that the Prosecution should either withdraw the indictment or the Court should grant him sufficient time to turn the trial into "an exemplary process, which would rehabilitate international law and the Tribunal".

"I do not fear this process. I am getting ready with great enthusiasm. (...) Should the Prosecution take a thorough review of the evidence, not only would it withdraw its indictment against me but it would ask for a revision of the verdicts against my generals in order to preserve the idea of international justice, because there is now a great danger of compromising the idea of justice," Karadzic said.

During presentation of his introductory arguments, Karadzic focused to a large extent on denying the crimes charged upon him, particularly those committed in Sarajevo and Srebrenica. The indictee argued that the Prosecution was trying to prove that Serbs had planned the crimes, and he said Serbs had simply "responded to challenges" from opposing parties.

"Our reaction was conditioned by their behaviour. We had to follow their conditions or be ruined. (...) Until April 1, 1992 Serbs were the only casualties killed throughout the country. The Prosecution charges me with the policy of war instigation in the same period of time," Karadzic said, adding that there were no Serb forces other than Territorial Defence before May 20.

Speaking about Sarajevo, Karadzic said Serbs and their territories in the city were surrounded by "Croat-Muslim forces", adding that they were under siege.

"As early as April 5 Green Beret snipers had occupied all the skyscrapers in Sarajevo and the terror began. It was horrible being a Serb in Sarajevo on that night. Serbs withdrew to the Sarajevo surrounding area, so the city division line was created. It was not a line of siege. The city was not under siege. The city was divided," Karadzic said.

He said the city was never blockaded, as water, gas and electricity were distributed to citizens via "the Serb territories".

"Whenever we had some water, we shared it with them. What kind of terrorizing is that?" the indictee asked in his introductory arguments.

The Prosecution charges Karadzic, as Supreme Commander of the RS armed forces, with having planned and ordered a sustained campaign of shelling and sniping in Sarajevo, thus "terrorizing its citizens" during the siege, which lasted for 1,425 days. Among other things, the indictment alleges that the city's residents did not have access to water, electricity or gas.

However, the indictee said there were many legitimate military targets in Sarajevo, adding that "Serb forces had the right to return fire and shoot at them". Citing some of them, Karadzic mentioned "Pcelica" kindergarten, many elementary schools, university premises and the National Museum building, claiming that "the Command of the 105th and 152nd Mountain Brigades of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina" were based in those buildings.

"This is the city which was under the siege, innocent and helpless. (...) They would shoot at us. We would return fire. They would then present it as random  shelling by the Serb Army. (...) The Kosevo Hospital - they made holes in the buildings using their weapons and then showed them to journalists. (...) There was never any intentional shelling. Never," Karadzic said.

Karadzic said he would "talk over Sarajevo in detail" during the trial, saying once again that he considers all mass killings in the city to have been insinuated, adding there were no civilian casualties, but "corpses which were scattered around".

"Foisting corpses all over Sarajevo in order to accuse Serbs ... how shall we fight that? We have to count on you and nobody else - we have to count on the Chamber that it will prevent this type of trick. How do false myths and false casualties affect the common people, who cannot see through them? What seed of future deaths have they sown by creating these lies? Those who sowed them have enabled the continuation of further conflicts and new massacres," Karadzic said.

The indictee spoke about Srebrenica in a similar manner. The indictment alleges that genocide, the deportation of tens of thousands of women and children and the murder of several thousand men and boys were committed in the town in July 1995.

"This sounds very emotional - Serbs killed little boys. By boys, we mean 17-year old men, who had been mobilized by military forces. (...) They made some sort of a sanctuary in the town. They counted the dead - 8,000 is carved on the memorial. Even if we also count those whose death was natural and those who were killed in the woods during battles, they could not have identified and buried more than 2,500 people. We know they are now exhuming people from graves in Bosnia in order to have something to bury in Srebrenica in July. Killing only one person is a crime. What is the purpose of making things up and exaggerating?" Karadzic said.

Speaking about deportations of Bosniaks from Serb territories, Karadzic said Bosniaks from Srebrenica and other municipalities "wanted to leave".

"Serbs fled from Muslim areas, Muslims left these areas in an organized manner. We will prove this," he said.

The trial of Karadzic began on October 27, 2009 with the presentation of the Prosecution's introductory arguments.