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Testifying as per a binding warrant by the Hague Tribunal after having refused to testify in defence of Karadzic, Garaplija said that the Seve unit, which was part of the State Security Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina, killed a French UNPROFOR member by a sniper in 1995 and that the crime was then imputed to the Serb side.
According to Garaplijas testimony, Seve members committed other crimes, including an assassination attempt against Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina general Sefer Halilovic, the murder of Serb civilians in Grbavica and shooting of captured Serb soldiers in a Sarajevo park. The witness said that the guilt for the assassination attempt against general Halilovic was imputed to the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.
Karadzic is charged with having terrorised civilians in Sarajevo by shelling and sniping activities. The Hague Prosecution charges him with genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
Garaplija said that, in his capacity as Chief of the Anti-terrorist Section with the State Security Service, he arrested and examined Nedzad Herenda, the then leader of the terrorist group, as part of an operation aimed at breaking up the Seve unit in 1996. The witness said that Herendas confessions were shocking and very compromising for Bosnian defence.
Herenda told us that he was tasked with opening sniper fire at Serb positions in Grbavica and that he often did that from the Executive Councils building. He confessed that he shot at a French UNPROFOR Officer from that building in 1995. I do not know if he was ordered to do it or if he did it at his own initiative, but it was compromising, Garaplija said.
According to the witness, when he was shot at, the French officer was putting a barricade in front of Holiday Inn hotel in Sarajevo in order to protect citizens from fire coming from the Serb side.
Garaplija confirmed that Herenda told him that he shot him in order for the United Nations to blame Serbs and that some Bosnian officials repeated those words later on.
Herenda confessed that he used to kill civilians in Grbavica neighbourhood, which was under VRS control, from a sniper. When I asked him how he could tell whether they were civilians or not, Herenda said that he picked women, who wore black clothes, because he knew that they were Serbs, the witness said.
Garaplija said that Herenda confirmed that he received money for his actions. When asked by presiding judge O-gon Kwon whether Herenda mentioned that he opened sniper fire at Bosniak civilians as well, Garaplija answered negatively.
Garaplija told the Tribunal that he conducted investigations into other crimes committed by Seve, including the liquidation of captured Serb soldiers and civilians in the Big Park in Sarajevo.
He said that, immediately after he had documented the crimes committed by Seve, Bosnian authorities arrested him and accused him of kidnapping, attempting to kill and abusing Herenda.
An engineered court process followed. Through that process certain structures tried to hush up the crimes committed by Seve, Garaplija said.
Garaplija said that, following a first instance verdict of conviction, he spent two years in prison, adding that the Supreme Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rendered a decision, acquitting him of most of the charges and releasing him to liberty. The witness said that Nedzad Herenda disappeared and that he did not know where he was.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Tuesday, February 12.
