Karadzic: Doubt in the Lists of the Killed Ones
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Parsons, a forensic director of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), rejected that claim as extremely unlikely to be true. Parsons said that so far, using the DNA analysis, the ICMP identified 6,606 victims from the mass graves.
The indictee claimed that the Muslim side has admitted that there are several hundred living people whose amputated limbs from the surgeon were put into mass graves. According to Karadzic’s suggestion, based on DNA samples from those limbs, persons who are alive are identified by the ICMP as victims of Srebrenica.
I am not aware of such a charge, but I believe it is extremely unlikely to be true, replied Parsons.
Karadzic, the then President of Republika Srpska (RS) and supreme Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Bosniak men who were shot by VRS after it took over Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. Karadzic is also charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terror against civilians in Sarajevo by a long-lasting shelling and sniping and taking members of international peace forces hostage.
During the cross-examination, Karadzic said that there are claims that on the list of Srebrenica victims 500 people who are still alive were included there by mistake. Parsons replied that it is certainly not a list of the ICMP, specifying that only 11 persons were removed from the ICMP list, because it was found out that they are not the victims.
According to the witness, the ICMP continues with identification of remains from mass graves, because the Commission, based on information from families, has a list of 7,800 missing persons from Srebrenica.
Karadzic said that during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks, who were killed in the fighting, were also buried in mass graves. The witness denied this claim, indicating that the mass graves are solely in relation to the execution sites.
Answering the question of the indictee whether he claimed that all 6,606 identified victims died in July 1995, Parsons said: Not everyone, but huge majority.
Karadzic also asked how many Serbs, and how many Muslims the ICMP identified as victims of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that he doubted in the origin, funding, accuracy and impartiality of the Commission. Parsons said that the ICMP does not determine the ethnicity of the victims, which serves as evidence of its impartiality.
After Parsons finished with his testimony, psychotherapist Teufika Ibrahimefendic testified about the trauma of the civilians, especially women and children, due to losses in Srebrenica during the war. She testified that, while helping families, she concluded that they suffer from emotional damage and behavioural disorders.
Traumatic losses during the war are extremely stressful, because they come suddenly and violently, the witness said, indicating that the consequences are nightmares, depression and learning disorders.
According to the witness, healing is not possible, but it is possible for families to learn to live with loss, and to seek solace in reality.
The trial is due to continue on Friday, March 23.
R.M.
