Karadzic: Indictee, Witness Disagree Over ‘Evacuation’

Testifying at the trial of Radovan Karadzic, Prosecution witness Ramiz Mujkic says he sees the indictee as the “murderer of my son”.

The witness did not agree with Karadzic’s allegations that Serb forces conducted an attack on Ahatovici village near Sarajevo on May 30, 1992 in response to an attack conducted, the indictee said, by Muslims forces on Serb villages on the previous day.
 
“Had I not known you as a bloodthirsty lion back in 1992, I would say you were a little lamb…I see you as the murderer of my son,” said Mujkic, who did not agree with Karadzic when he said that civilians were “evacuated” from Ahatovici.
 
At the beginning of his testimony on February 17, Mujkic explained that he was captured and taken to military barracks in Rajlovac, where he was subjected to brutal physical abuse, and then transferred to the so-called Planjina kuca in Vogosca, where he said detainees were treated in a cruel manner.
 
Karadzic, the wartime resident of Republika Srpska, RS, is on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war committed in the period from 1992 to 1995.
 
Presenting five statements given by Mujkic prior to his testimony before the Hague Tribunal in 2004, Karadzic said that the witness “suddenly remembered” certain events.
 
“Who suggested you say, 12 years later, that Mirko Krajisnik and Nikola Poplasen visited you in Rajlovac?… Why did not you mention them in the first, second and other statements, but only did so at the trial of Momcilo Krajisnik?” Karadzic asked the witness.
 
Mujkic responded by saying that he did not mention Krajisnik’s and Poplasen’s visit at first because at that time he did not know the reason for their visit, but he “saw the whole picture” later on. 
 
He said that while he was at the Hague Prosecution, he heard intercepted telephone conversations between Bakir Alispahic and Mirko Krajisnik and those between Mirko and Momcilo Krajisnik about the exchange of prisoners.
 
Mirko Krajisnik is the brother of Momcilo Krajisnik, former president of the Republika Srpska Assembly. The Hague Tribunal sentenced Momcilo Krajisnik to 20 years in prison. Bakir Alispahic was the wartime Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
At this hearing the Prosecution also began examining protected witness KDZ-020, who has testified at trials held before the Tribunal twice.
 
According to his written statement, which has been included in the case file, KDZ-020 witnessed the deterioration of the security situation in Vogosca municipality, incidents based on ethnic affiliation and divisions in police forces.
 
The trial is due to continue on Monday, February 28, when the indictee will cross-examine the witness.

M.T.