Karadzic: The Last Day with Father

Prosecution witness Almir Begic, son of Camil Begic, who was killed by pieces of shrapnel from a grenade at the Markale open-air market in Sarajevo on February 5, 1994, told the Hague Tribunal about the day he last saw his father alive.

“This was the last time I saw my father alive. I heard about the shelling of the marketplace on that day, but I did not even assume that my father was there. A neighbour of ours informed me in the afternoon that my father had been severely wounded at Markale, adding they recognised him by his prosthetic limb,” Begic said.

The witness said that Sarajevo residents often visited the marketplace during the course of the war, because it was the only place where they could buy or trade things they needed.

Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war committed between 1992 and 1995.

Karadzic is charged with having participated in a sniping and shelling campaign in Sarajevo during the war. The Hague Prosecution considers him responsible for the shelling of the Markale marketplace in Sarajevo on February 5, 1994 and August 28, 1995, when dozens of civilians were killed and more than one hundred were wounded.

Begic told the Tribunal he identified his father in the city morgue on that same night, adding he noticed his prosthetic limb was missing.

“The prosthesis that can be seen on recordings of the Markale market place shelling belonged to my father. Some parts of his clothes were found at the same place. It is therefore believed that he was killed at exactly that place.

“I must say that I am offended by the indictee’s allegation that the prosthetic limb was intentionally brought to the market place and it represents proof that the shelling of Markale was a setup. That is not true,” the witness said.

The examination of witness Martin Bell, a former BBC journalist who reported from Sarajevo during the war, was also completed at this hearing.

During the course of cross-examination, Karadzic asked the witness what he thought about “the setting up” of the Markale massacre, claiming that both incidents had been “staged” by bringing old corpses to the location and “setting up of horrible scenes”.

“Mr. Karadzic, you and I have known each other for years. You know very well that I reported from areas caught up in war for decades. I saw all kinds of massacres, but I refuse to confirm that something like that can be prearranged. It is not possible to do it and I do not even want to comment on it,” Bell said.

The cross-examination of witness Begic is due to continue at the next hearing, scheduled for December 16.

D.E.