Karadzic: Indictee Has to Finance Part of the Defence Costs

A decision signed by Registrar John Hocking says that the indictee and his wife Ljiljana own a family house, that his wife had been a co-owner of a private business and realties in Pale until March this year and that she receives a monthly pension.

The investigation determined the amount of money at the disposal of the Karadzic family. After that an estimated cost of living for the indictee, his wife and other persons dependant on the family income was deducted from that amount. On the basis of that the Registrar determined that Karadzic could allocate 146,501 euros (about 300,000 KM) for his defence.

As BIRN was told by the Information Section of the Registry of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, Karadzic will not have to pay the mentioned amount, but the amount will be deducted from the total amount refunded by The Hague Tribunal, representing the costs of his defence.

ICTY Spokesperson Magdalena Spalinska told BIRN that The Hague Tribunal rendered a decision approving the refunding of costs of Karadzic’s defence, prior to the beginning of the trial, but the total amount that would be refunded to the indictee was still not known.

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and supreme Commander of its armed forces, is representing himself at the trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1992 to 1995.

The Hague Prosecution charges Karadzic, among other things, with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from municipalities controlled by Bosnian Serbs, a shelling and sniping campaign in Sarajevo and taking international soldiers hostage.

The trial of Karadzic began in October 2009. Following a two-year presentation of evidence by the Prosecution, Karadzic’s Defence is due to begin presenting evidence on October 16 this year.