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The Republic Srpska’s former minister of justice told the trial of Radovan Karadzic that the government fought against the detention of civilians in Serbian autonomous regions, SAOs, in 1992.
Momcilo Mandic blamed the SAOs, not the RS central government, for the arresting of civilians and said that is why they were abolished.
“In my opinion, the SAOs came as a result of mistakes in organisation of the Serbian republic, because we actually made small states with separate powers – executive, legislative and judicial. Naturally, right-oriented staff members made inappropriate decisions and had inappropriate stands, especially at the beginning of the war.” Mandic said.
He began his testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, on June 30 this year.
Karadzic, the former President of the Republika Srpska, RS, is charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise, in collaboration with members of the political and military leadership of the Bosnian Serbs, with the aim of deporting Bosniaks and Croats, as well as genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.
The indictment alleges that starting in March 1992, Bosniaks and Croats living in municipalities controlled by Serbs were exposed to restrictive and discriminatory measures, groundless arrests, vexation, torture, rape, murder as well as the destruction of houses, cultural monuments and sacred buildings.
Karadzic, who was cross examining Mandic, presented the witness with an order issued in July 1992 by which the indictee ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MUP, to open investigations into war crimes committed by “paramilitary group members and criminals”.
“The police conducted investigations on the entire territory of the republic. After having completed the criminal procedure, they referred certain crimes to competent prosecutions for further processing. We are talking about investigations related to paramilitary formations, whose members, who were armed, came to Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in the war, but, instead of participating in combat, they robbed people,” Mandic said.
Mandic said that the RS Justice Ministry proposed to the RS government in November 1992 to temporarily transfer war crimes cases from the military to civilian judiciary, considering the fact that the military judiciary “was not properly organised or efficient”.
“Had they listened to my proposal there would have been many fewer crimes and offences. Had this happened, we would now be able to present to the honourable court the names of people who were on trial and the criminal sanctions pronounced against them,” he said.
Karadzic objected to Mandic’s statement, adding the Serbian military judicial authorities pronounced several hundred years of prison sentences against Serbs who were found guilty of crimes against Muslims and Croats, while the other side did not pronounce similar verdicts.
“I am not saying that no verdicts were pronounced, but I am talking about being self-critical. Had we started doing it earlier, fewer crimes would have happened. I am just talking about preventive activities. As far as the Muslim side is concerned, I really do not know about someone having been processed for crimes committed against Serbs,” Mandic said.
Mandic will continue his testimony on July 15.
