Eager to Testify

“I can hardly wait to testify, believe me,” Karadzic said during a brief examination of Defence witness Simo Miskovic today.

Karadzic’s legal counsellor Peter Robinson said that Karadzic wanted to testify as the last witness in late February or at the beginning of March.

It was said in the courtroom that the Defence of General Ratko Mladic, former Commander of the RS Army, would appeal a decision by which the Tribunal recently obliged him to testify in Karadzic’s defence.

Karadzic and Mladic are charged with genocide against about 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, persecution of the Muslim and Croat population throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.

During the hearing held this morning Karadzic completed the additional examination of Miskovic, who testified as the 209th Defence witness.  

Miskovic, who was leader of the Serbian Democratic Party in Prijedor in 1992, said that the Party’s policy towards the non-Serb population included advocating for “a peaceful solution… and an agreement in line with the election results”.

Also, the witness said that Karadzic’s stand was to respect the Constitution and law. In order to prove that, the indictee presented two documents about “abolition” and “amnesty” of Prijedor Muslims.

The trial of Karadzic is due to continue following the New Year break, on January 16, 2014.