Karadzic: Attacks on Their Own People

Testifying in defence of Karadzic, New Zealander Colonel Gray said that this was a part of “a full scale strategy” of the Government and Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also included opening of mine-thrower fire from locations near civilian buildings and the UNPROFOR Command in order to provoke Serbs to open fire at those buildings from their positions.

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and supreme Commander of the RS Army, is charged with terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through artillery and sniper attacks in the period from 1992 to 1995.

The witness said that the predominantly Muslim forces “had a custom” of shelling the area in front of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina during numerous visits by international diplomats and peace mediators.

“A grenade would usually explode while a foreign official spoke to Alija Izetbegovic in the Presidency building,” Gray said, specifically mentioning the visits by Douglas Hurd, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, Lord Peter Carrington, Chief Peace Mediator, and Marak Goulding, UN’s Envoy.

Gray mentioned an explosion of a mine-thrower grenade that killed about ten citizens in front of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina during Hurd’s visit on July 17, 1992 as an event, which convinced him “beyond any doubt, that the Bosnian forces killed their own people for the sake of media”.

“I was standing on the staircase of the Presidency building, waiting for Hurd to arrive. Nobody had an itinerary… I saw that the honorary formation of Bosniak police was withdrawing, while two ABiH officers, who were standing next to me, looked at their watches, entered the building and closed the door. The grenade exploded right after that. An ambulance and TV crews appeared immediately in order to film those poor people who had been killed and the wounded,” the witness described.

Gray said that ABiH was most probably responsible for a mine-thrower attack against a group of young Sarajevo residents, while UNPROFOR soldiers gave them sweets in front of the international forces command in the post office building on July 13, 1992. A girl was killed and several teenagers wounded in that explosion.

The witness said that the UNPROFOR Command was targeted by snipers from the surrounding buildings, while mobile mine-throwers used the UN Command as “a shield”.

According to Gray, these activities were aimed at provoking response fire from Serb positions on civilian buildings and UNPROFOR and the murders of “blue helmets” from Ukraine and France, and the UN’s Command severely protested to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the cross-examination the Prosecutor suggested to the witness that UN military observers were not able to determine who opened fire first and who responded to fire.

“We were not 100 per cent sure, but we could determine it with 85 per cent certainty,” Gray responded.

He confirmed that the VRS response to fire from Sarajevo was non-proportional, illustrating his allegation by saying that it would fire “30, 40 or 50” grenades in response to six grenades.

After the Prosecutor presented the witness with an UNPROFOR report, saying that it was not possible to determine the location from which the mine-thrower grenade, which hit Sarajevo teenagers, was fired on July 13, 1992, Gray confirmed that, adding that both Muslim and Serb forces were situated in the direction from which the projectile came.

The witness pointed out that the mine-thrower crew must have seen “those poor teenagers” in order to “hit them so precisely”, adding that the grenade was therefore most probably fired from close positions, which were held by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The trial of Karadzic, who is charged with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and taking UN “blue helmets” hostage, is due to continue next week.
R.M.