Karadzic: Strong Party Leader

During cross-examination, Karadzic said that Prosecution witness Patrick Treanor failed to consider many things when he made his conclusions, adding that his statement that the moves and directives of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS led to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not correct.

“The Croat and Bosniak political leadership bears the responsibility for the war, because they started arming themselves first,” Karadzic said during cross-examination on Wednesday.

He added: “In the first half of 1991, the presidents of Slovenia, the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina signed a joint agreement against the Yugoslav National Army, JNA.”

Treanor rebutted the statements made by Karadzic, saying that they were “arbitrary conclusions, which are not based on evidence”.

Court expert Treanor, who began his testimony at the beginning of June, made three reports for the Karadzic trial. Those reports refer to Bosnian Serb leadership in the period from 1990, when the first multi-party elections were scheduled, to the end of the Bosnian war in late 1995.

One of the reports specifically deals with Karadzic’s role as SDS leader and then Republika Srpska President and Supreme Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

“As President of RS, Karadzic was the supreme Commander of VRS. In that capacity, he very actively used his competencies. He was a strong party leader, who was so powerful that no one could oppose him,” Treanor explained.

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

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

During the cross-examination of witness Treanor, Karadzic presented his conversations held at the beginning of the Bosnian war, which, as he said, demonstrate his positive attitude towards other ethnic communities and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fact that he looked forward to joint co-existence.

“The basic stand of the SDS was a wish that Bosnia and Herzegovina stay in Yugoslavia. We were not the ones who wanted a new state. We had no problems with Muslims. Never! We could live with them. Saying that I had any kind of antipathy towards them is nonsense,” Karadzic said.

The trial is due to continue on June 9.

D.E.