By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Radovan Karadzic orchestrated the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys and his only regret was "that some Muslim men got away," a U.N. prosecutor said Monday at the former Bosnian Serb leader's war crimes trial.
Karadzic again boycotted his own trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, but pledged in a letter to judges that he would attend a procedural hearing Tuesday on his defense.
Prosecutor Alan Tieger focused on Europe's worst atrocity since World War II as he wound up his opening statement Monday for the tribunal's judges. Tieger called the July 1995 slaying in Srebrenica "one of humanity's dark chapters" and laid the blame squarely at Karadzic's feet.
"The murder of these men and the expulsion of the women, children and elderly did not arise from nowhere," Tieger said. "These crimes were the culmination of the accused's determination to cleanse eastern Bosnia to ensure the Serb state he envisioned."
Karadzic is charged with two counts of genocide and nine other crimes against humanity and war crimes linked to atrocities throughout Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
Karadzic has refused to enter pleas, but insists he is innocent. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Tieger showed judges photos of men's bodies exhumed from mass graves near Srebrenica — one wearing a blindfold, another with his hands bound behind his back — and video of bodies piled up along the white, bullet-pocked wall of a warehouse.
He showed video of a captured Muslim man calling to his son to come and join him. Both father and son, Tieger said, were found dead in mass graves.
"These terrible crimes have been proved time and again in other trials before this tribunal," Tieger said. "When (Karadzic) denies what happened, it is because he knows that the truth condemns him."
Tieger repeatedly referred to Karadzic as the "supreme commander" of Bosnian Serb forces and told judges the chain of command was functioning perfectly during the Srebrenica massacre. That was an apparent attempt to address a possible Karadzic line of defense — that any crimes in Bosnia happened without his knowledge or consent.
Karadzic's boycott of the trial last week frustrated dozens of war survivors — many of them widows from Srebrenica — who had traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) by bus to see him face justice after 13 years on the run.
The 64-year-old wrote to judges that he would attend Tuesday's hearing to help find "a solution which will lead to not only an expeditious trial, but a fair one."
Karadzic claims that he did not have enough time to prepare his defense, despite having been first indicted in 1995 and arrested 14 months ago on a Belgrade bus, disguised as a New Age healer. Since then, he has been working on his defense in his cell at the tribunal's detention center.
Karadzic insists he needs up to eight more months to be ready for his trial, and wants to defend himself.
Presiding judge O-Gon Kwon warned Karadzic on Monday that his "attempts to obstruct the progress of the trial will not be tolerated" and that judges are considering imposing a defense attorney on him. That could further delay the trial as a new lawyer would need to familiarize himself with the sprawling case.
Tieger on Monday also underscored the pivotal role allegedly played by Europe's most-wanted war crimes suspect, Gen. Ratko Mladic, in the Srebrenica takeover.
He said Mladic, Karadzic's wartime military chief, met with Dutch U.N. peacekeepers and Bosnian Muslim men in a hotel shortly after Serb forces overran Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, and told them he wanted to discuss with Muslim representatives whether they wanted to "survive, stay or vanish."
Mladic also is charged with genocide for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre, but he remains on the run.
Tieger showed judges video footage of Mladic strutting through Srebrenica's deserted streets on July 11 and saying to a camera that "the time has come to take revenge."
An Open Letter to Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
9 years ago
Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case
ReplyDeleteThis legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr Karadzic and others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.
Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and others.
I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND judicial appointments, for monetary funding.
Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country’s proposal was not taken to well by the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud and noticably strongly vocal manner, “Spain (my country) strongly believes if we contribute most financial support to the Hague’s highest court, that ought to give us and other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its decisions.”
((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative from Spain for even bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for international judicial verdicts and judicial appointments, all country representatives present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a ”totally legitimate topic” discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!
The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."
Some countries agreed with Spain’s propositions while others did not. The point here is, bribery for judicial verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate topic instead of an illegitimate toic which it is in the meeting that I attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading financial funding the ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts in front of every other UN member state present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was "socially acceptable" for conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and
ICC before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student. SPAIN's diplomatic gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is, disgusting morally!
SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN
"INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."
I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic’s absence in those meetings and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia’s behalf.