No Plan for Deportation of Bosniaks and Croats Existed

While being examined by Karadzic, Krajisnik said such joint criminal enterprise “did not exist” and that there was no plan for the deportation of Bosniaks and Croats from Serb territories.  

“Did I intend to destroy Muslims and Croats?” Karadzic asked. “I can say with certainty and support it with evidence that Karadzic was far from such thoughts and intentions. Such plan did not exist,” Krajisnik said.
 
The Hague Tribunal sentenced Krajisnik, under a second instance verdict, to 20 years in prison for forced resettlement, deportation and persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. After having served two thirds of his sentence in a prison in Great Britain, Krajisnik was released on August 31.
 
Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged with the persecution of non-Serb population throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities. Besides that, he is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, terror against citizens in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
 
Krajisnik said that the accusations about permanent deportation of Bosniaks and Croats were completely untrue. He said that Serb leaders “always foresaw the existence of non-Serb areas” in the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  
 
When asked whether the plan was to create the Serbian entity by committing crimes, Krajisnik answered negatively, reminding that the establishment of ethnic units within Bosnia and Herzegovina was a part of a pre-war peace plan, which he described as “the biggest chance for Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
 
Krajisnik said that the six strategic goals adopted by the Republika Srpska Parliament in May 1992 were in line with a peace plan from March 1992. Separation from Bosniaks and Croats, elimination of River Drina as a division line between Serbs and division of Sarajevo were among those goals.
 
“The conclusion that the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, was achieving those goals is wrong. They were political goals, publicly presented to the international community,” Krajisnik said. He said that “the defence of Serbian people and territories” was the only goal of VRS.
 
Krajisnik denied the accusations that Serb forces forcedly took over the authority in municipalities, claiming that there was no need for that, considering the fact that Serbs had already had authority in the majority of those municipalities.
 
According to Krajisnik’s testimony, the top political leaders of Republika Srpska never wanted to occupy Sarajevo, although there were possibilities and “numerous requests” to do that. “We do not want to occupy Sarajevo. We want to have a part of Sarajevo where Serbs will be the majority,” this, according to Krajisnik, was Karadzic’s stand. As he said, Karadzic knew that an attempt to occupy the city would cause “many civilian victims”.
 
Krajisnik told the Tribunal that Karadzic “prohibited attacks on Sarajevo”. As far as the two explosions at Markale market place, in which many civilians got killed, are concerned, “our soldiers said that the grenade was not fired from our area, that it was insinuated,” Krajisnik said.
 
“This caused an absolute harm to the Serb side, while militant circles in Sarajevo benefited from it. They wanted to present Sarajevo as a detention camp and target,” Krajisnik said.
 
Krajisnik denied having known anything about the crime in Srebrenica in July 1995 or having discussed it with Karadzic during a series of meetings they held at the time.
 
“There was no information about anybody having been killed… Whenever somebody asked about it, they said – ‘they are lying’, it is not true… At that time I did not hear about the crimes from international representatives either,” Krajisnik said.
 
The witness opposed the accusations that UNRPOFOR soldiers were taken hostage, confirming Karadzic’s allegations that “blue helmets” had previously took the side of Bosniaks, requesting air strikes against VRS.

Krajisnik is due to continue testifying at Karadzic’s trial on Wednesday, November 13.