Klickovic at al.: Summons to Karadzic and Krajisnik

At the resumption of the trial of those charged with crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa, the Defence of Gojko Klickovic announced that it would like to question Radovan Karadzic and Momcilo Krajisnik regarding the “circumstances of a joint criminal enterprise.”

“The defendants in this case are charged with a joint criminal enterprise, so it would be logical to examine Karadzic and Krajisnik, who are mentioned in the indictment of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecution. Both have agreed to testify and I talked with Krajisnik when he was visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Dusko Tomic, Klickovic’s Defence attorney.

Dusko Tomic asked the Court to make contact with the Hague Tribunal in order to get its approval and set a date for testimony.

Together with Jovan Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca, Klickovic is charged with crimes against humanity committed between April and December, 1992, in the territory of Bosanska Krupa. The indictment specifies for all three of the accused that, together with Karadzic and Krajisnik, they took part in a joint criminal enterprise that “began in the summer of 1991.”

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged with genocide and other crimes committed during the war in Bosnia, and his trial before the Hague Tribunal is expected to begin soon.

Krajisnik, former Speaker of the Republika Srpska Parliament, was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity and participation in a joint criminal enterprise.

The Hague Tribunal made a decision to allow Krajisnik to visit his mother and family in Pale between June 22 and 25, this year, before sending him to serve his sentence. The same decision forbade him from talking about his trial with anyone, and from contacting witnesses or victims.

Klickovic’s Defence examined Slobodan Majkic and Dragan Lukac, who spoke of the activities of the Patriotic League in 1991 and 1992.

The Patriotic League was an armed formation active before the forming of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which its member subsequently joined.

“I was sent to Krupa around April 20, 1992, together with four policemen from Bihac, in order to guard some facilities. Upon our arrival in the town, we met policemen from other towns, and later armed groups of people in camouflage uniforms and fleur-de-lis insignia,” explained Lukac.

The witness emphasised that on that day armed people shot at policemen and wounded one of them in front of the health centre in Krupa.

Lukac left Krupa on the same day, and later learned that the “situation in the town calmed down.”

Slobodan Majkic, the second witness for Klickovic’s Defence, emphasised that in late 1991 he learned about the existence of the Patriotic League, and that he saw several members of the formation.

The witness explained that he heard about the existence of the “collection centre” in the Petar Kocic school in Krupa, but that he learned about the murder of men only in 2005.

According to the indictment, several dozen Bosniaks were held captive between May and August, 1992, in the Petar Kocic primary school in Krupa. They were physically and mentally abused, taken to forced labour, raped, expelled, and a certain number were murdered.

Majkic added that “in late April or early May, 1992” he received an order from the war presidency in Krupa “signed by Gojko Klickovic” about his appointment as police commander in the town.

The trial is scheduled to resume on July 1, 2009.