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Karadzic: Map of Sniping and Shelling

4. February 2011.00:00
At the trial of Radovan Karadzic, a Hague Prosecution investigator says he conducted a probe into the shelling and sniping activities in Sarajevo and spoke to victims and witnesses.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

“My task was to go there with a victim or witness and determine the location at which the incident happened and the place where they were hit. Also, I asked them about the direction from which the fire had come.

“Using a GPS device, I determined the coordinates of the place where the victims had been hit,” said Barry Haugan, who made a map of sniping and shelling activities in Sarajevo by using the GPS device.

Karadzic, the former president of Republika Srpska and supreme commander of its armed forces, is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.

The indictment charges him with the sniping and shelling campaign conducted in Sarajevo with the aim of spreading fear among civilians. Thousands of civilians were killed and wounded in the campaign.

The indictment includes 16 sniping incidents which resulted in the wounding and killing of civilians, including women and children.

At this hearing, photographs of sniper incidents mentioned in the indictment against Karadzic were presented. The witness said the photographs showed the locations at which victims were hit and the directions from where the bullets had come, which the witness marked.

During his testimony, Haugan spoke about a sniping victim in detail.

According to the charges, Munira Zametica was killed by a sniper bullet on July 11, 1993, while fetching water from a river in Dobrinja, Sarajevo.

“Witnesses say she was facing the river when she was hit, as she was trying to fetch water from the river,” the witness said, explaining that he found that Zametica had been hit from the Old Orthodox Church in east Sarajevo.

During cross-examination, Karadzic referred to the investigation, which the witness conducted for several days, as “a tour”.

The trial is due to continue on February 8 this year.

A.J.

This post is also available in: Bosnian