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ICTY: Karadzic Has No Legal Immunity

18. December 2008.00:00
UN judges say an immunity deal Radovan Karadzic claims he made with a US envoy would not prevent the former Bosnian Serb leader's trial on charges including genocide.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

Karadzic claims he cut a deal with Richard Holbrooke in 1996 to relinquish power in return for immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

But in a resounding legal setback, tribunal judges say in a ruling published on Thursday that such a deal “would be invalid under international law.”

Holbrooke denies he ever made such a deal with Karadzic and prosecutors say that even if the pact existed it would have no legal weight at the court.

Karadzic, the wartime President of the Republika Srpska is accused of masterminding Serb atrocities in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Bosniak (also known as Bosnian Muslim)men and boys.

He was arrested in July in Serbia and handed over to authorities at The Hague-based tribunal.

This post is also available in: Bosnian