Karadzic: Key Role of Police

According to expert witness Christian Nielsen, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MUP of Republika Srpska, RS was established in February 1992. He said that, prior to that, indictee Karadzic paid much attention to the issue and said that “the events, in which police will play a key role, are going to happen soon”.

“Despite the assurances by police and political authorities that citizens would be safe, the documents indicate that Muslim and Croat population did not get such security nor did the consequences get a high priority in police investigations,” Nielsen said, mentioning the murder of 200 civilians at Koricanske stijene in 1992 as an example.

Radovan Karadzic, former President of RS, is on trial before the Hague Tribunal for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war. Among other things, the indictment alleges that Karadzic participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of forcibly moving the non-Serb population from 20 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When asked about the role of MUP in deportations, expert witness Nielsen said that, in 1992, in collaboration with crisis committees and the Army, police first established and then guarded detention facilities.

“At the end of the summer and beginning of autumn of 1992 people were not returned to their homes, but they had to leave the territory of RS, just like the ones who were not held in detention. In many cases, police forces participated in it,” Nielsen said.

The expert witness said that police and crisis committees issued announcements, saying that they could not guarantee physical security to those who returned to their homes.

“We have got documents in which Vinko Kondic, Chief of the Public Safety Station in Kljuc, said that pressure should be put on Muslims to leave the area and that, as Kondic said, although they had started an armed rebellion, they were subjected to a terror campaign and horrible crimes had been committed,” the expert witness said.

Kondic was on trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes committed in Kljuc area, but the proceedings were discontinued due to health reasons.

The expert witness confirmed that the link between Karadzic and state and public safety bodies and the Army were functional in July 1995. He mentioned that, between July 10 and 15 Karadzic held several meetings with top officials of MUP, whose units were present in Srebrenica at that time.

The trial is due to continue on Tuesday, July 12.