Karadzic Wants Krajisnik and Mladic to Testify

Karadzic has submitted a list of witnesses he wants to call in his defence at his war crimes trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, including Mladic and former Bosnian Serb parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik.

In the request, his defence said it expected Mladic to confirm that “he has never informed Karadzic, be it orally or in writing, that captives from Srebrenica would be shot, that they were being shot or that they had been shot, as well as that Karadzic had never issued an order, planned or intended to execute the captives”.

Karadzic and Mladic are on trial before the Hague Tribunal for the same charges, including genocide in Srebrenica and seven other Bosnian municipalities, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and UN peacekeepers hostage.

In April this year, Karadzic asked the Tribunal to issue a special subpoena obliging Mladic to testify because he has refused to do so voluntarily, but the court has yet to make a decision about this.

Krajisnik was released from a British prison on August 31 this year after having served two thirds of his 20-year war crimes sentence.

Karadic wants Krajisnik to testify in November and Mladic in December.

The list of Karadzic’s proposed defence witnesses also includes Bosnian Serb Army general Zdravko Tolimir, as well as colonels Ljubisa Beara and Vujadin Popovic, who the Tribunal sentenced, under a first instance verdict, to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica.

The Tribunal previously ruled that Tolimir and Beara must testify at Karadzic’s trial, but Tolimir filed an appeal against the decision which has yet to be decided on.

Karadzic’s trial is due to resume on October 29 after a two-month break granted by the court so he could prepare his defence against reinstated charges of genocide against Bosniaks and Croats in the Bosnian municipalities of Bratunac, Foca, Kljuc, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlasenica and Zvornik.