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The Trial Chamber of The Hague Tribunal refuses to allow Ratko Mladic to appeal a decision ordering him to testify in Radovan Karadzic’s defence, so he is due to appear in court on Tuesday, January 28.
In his decision Trial Chamber Chairman O-Gon Kwon said that there were no reasons for reconsidering a decision, under which Mladic was ordered to testify.
“In its original decision the Chamber undertook to protect Mladic’s rights. It reminds that it will reserve the right to force him to answer certain questions or not, taking the fact that he is currently on trial under consideration. Also, the Chamber reminds that it will take care of Mladic’s health, so it is not necessary to reconsider the decision in order to preclude injustice,” Kwon said.
Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, and Mladic, former Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, are on trial, in separate cases, for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.
After having refused his objections, on December 11 last year the Trial Chamber of The Hague Tribunal rendered the decision that Mladic had to testify in Karadzic’s defence and issued a binding warrant, obliging him to do so.
After that Mladic filed an appeal with the Trial Chamber sitting in his case, as well as the Chamber sitting in Karadzic’s case. Judge Kwon, Chairman of the Chamber sitting at Karadzic’s trial, then rendered a decision, depriving Mladic of the right to file an appeal with the Appellate Chamber.
After the decision had been made, Karadzic requested that Mladic and his Defence attorney appeared in the courtroom on Tuesday, January 28.
With the aim of protecting Mladic’s rights, Karadzic decided to disclose six questions, which he will pose to Mladic during the examination.
Karadzic will ask Mladic whether he had ever informed him that captives from Srebrenica had been or would be killed and whether he knew that Sarajevo citizens were subjected to a sniping and shelling campaign.
The former President of Republika Srpska intends to ask him what the reasons for sniping and shelling of Sarajevo were and whether those reasons were communicated to him.
The last question will be whether Karadzic and Mladic had an agreement to expel Bosniaks and Croats who lived on the territories controlled by Serb forces.
