Karadzic: Party Leaders’ Policy

Testifying before the Hague Tribunal, Kezunovic, who was President of the Executive Board of Ilidza municipality from 1990 to April 1992, said that Radovan Karadzic and Momcilo Krajisnik were “leaders of the SDS party”, who “defined the Party’s policy” at the municipal level.

“Instruction were conveyed orally inside the Party and between its various levels, from top to lower levels. The Party management shared information through Nedjeljko Prstojevic and others who attended meetings with Karadzic. Prstojevic would then come to Ilidza and inform us about planned activities at formal or informal meetings,” Kezunovic said.

Karadzic, former President of SDS and Republika Srpska, RS, is on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.

The indictment alleges that Karadzic participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of permanently removing Bosnian Muslims and Croats from 20 Bosnian municipalities, including Ilidza.

Krajisnik, a former member of the SDS Main Board who is mentioned in the indictment against Karadzic as a member of the joint criminal enterprise, was sentenced before the Hague Tribunal in 2009 to 20 years in prison. Prstojevic, former President of the Serbian municipality of Ilidza, testified at the Karadzic trial in March this year.

Kezunovic said that the Main Board of the SDS “defined the policy and realised the Party’s intentions”, but, in most cases it did not become involved in “personnel issues at the municipal level”.

“At my request, non-members of the Party were included in the Ilidza Executive Board. They used to perform those same activities as members of previous Boards. I retained those men due to their competencies. I was supported by the SDS in that sense,” said Kezunovic, adding that he was not a member of the SDS in 1992.

Kezunovic said that the situation in Ilidza municipality “was chaotic” at the beginning of 1992, because of the presence of many refugees and members of paramilitary formations.

“I used to see various uniforms until the Republika Srpska police and Army, VRS, began working with full intensity. From then on, there were fewer and fewer paramilitary forces. In the end, they disappeared completely,” the witness said.

Kezunovic said that “Muslim forces” conducted an attack on Ilidza municipality on April 22, 1992, when 11 people were killed.

“Compared to the situation in Sarajevo, which was under the siege, the situation in Ilidza was almost the same, because citizens were exposed to sniping and shelling…I was exposed to that too. The fact that about one thousand of children and civilians were killed indicates that the overall situation was identical to the situation in Sarajevo, which was under siege,” Kezunovic said.

The next hearing is due to be held on June 1 this year.