Karadzic: Shelling Aimed at Provoking Intervention
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Protected witness KW-554, former Intelligence Officer with the Main UNPROFOR Command in Zagreb, said that there was a prevalent belief that Muslims were responsible for some of the most notorious incidents in which civilians were killed in Sarajevo.
There was a prevalent belief that Muslim forces were shelling its own people in order to blame Serbs and provoke an international intervention to their advantage, said the officer from Canada.
He specified that, according to the discoveries available to him, Bosniaks were responsible for at least one of the two explosions at Markale open market. The first explosion on February 5, 1994 killed 66 and wounded more than 140 citizens. Forty-three people were killed and 75 wounded in the second explosion that happened on August 28, 1995.
The witness said that an American soldier showed him a photograph, depicting a person throwing a mine-thrower grenade from a building window at Markale on February 5, 1994.
The witness said that, during his stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina he saw that members of UNPROFOR and national contingents worked on determining the potential targets for NATO air strikes in Republika Srpska.
The witness said that special policemen were in the field and that they were deployed inside or around the Muslim enclaves in Eastern Bosnia in order to guide NATO bombs to Serb targets.
After having studied voluminous documentation about the events in Srebrenica in July 1995 following his return from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the witness did not find any pieces of evidence that Karadzic was involved in or informed about the mass executions of Bosniaks, which the Republika Srpska Army, VRS allegedly committed after having occupied the enclave on July 11, 1995.
Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged with committing genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo through a long-lasting shelling and sniping campaign, persecuting Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
During the cross-examination Prosecutor Kimberly West asked the witness whether he saw the photograph allegedly depicting a person throwing a mine-thrower grenade at Markale from a nearby building. I saw the photograph from a distance. I did not take a detailed close look at it, the witness said.
A French Officer, who participated in an investigation into the explosion at Markale in 1994, testified about the even at this hearing, but his testimony was closed to the public most of the time.
British Brigadier Vere Hayes, former Chief of UNPROFOR Headquarters in Kiseljak, near Sarajevo from April to October 1993, testified in Karadzics defence at this hearing. Hayes described the negotiations on demilitarisation of Srebrenica in 1993, confirming that Karadzic had previously ordered the VRS to stop its offensive against the enclave and enable the passage of humanitarian convoys.
According to an agreement signed in 1994, VRS and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina agreed to demilitarise Srebrenica, said Hayes.
Hayes explained that, in line with the agreement he defined the safety zone, which included the urban area of Srebrenica and hills right above the town.
Witness Hayes said that, when he went to Srebrenica, along with unarmed VRS officers, on April 21, 1993, in order to check whether the place was demilitarised, he was met by Naser Oric, who was armed, just like two of his bodyguards. In 2008 Oric was acquitted of charges for crimes in Srebrenica.
I spoke to Oric for half an hour. I explained the agreement to him. It seemed that he had either not been informed about it or had not quite understood it, Hayes said.
Hayes said that it was not possible to implement the demilitarization agreement, because neither side was willing to do it due to mutual distrust. He said that, according to some reports, attacks from Srebrenica on the surrounding Serb villages continued during the summer as well.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Thursday, January 17.
