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Karadzic previously announced that he would testify at his trial and asked the Tribunal to let him have 16 working hours for that. His testimony was supposed to be followed by a cross-examination by prosecutors.
However, towards the end of this hearing Karadzic suddenly said during a discussion about his testimony: “I believe that we have preserved the integrity of the process over the course of these 500 days. I have done everything to make it that way. I have not had the time to discuss dilemmas and ambiguities with my legal counsellor… Now I can tell you that it is perfectly clear to me that we shall save time. I have decided not to testify.”
Presiding judge O-gon Kwon commented that by saying: “I think this is the end of the story then”.
Karadzic’s testimony was originally scheduled for March 3. Now that he has given up on testifying, only a Croatian Government official will testify on that day in order to confirm the authenticity of intercepted conversations recorded by that Government.
When asked if he would be the last witness of Karadzic’s Defence, legal counsellor Peter Robinson left open the possibility that the Defence would examine more witnesses, depending on Trial Chamber’s decisions.
The Hague Prosecution announced that it would request the Tribunal to let it present some additional pieces of evidence in response to testimonies by Karadzic’s witnesses.
The indictment charges Karadzic with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, genocide in Srebrenica, terror against civilians in Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
At this hearing Prosecutor Ann Sutherland completed the cross-examination of Karadzic’s witness Momcilo Gruban, who was sentenced, under a verdict pronounced by the Court of BiH, to seven years in prison for the murder of 30 detainees in Omarska.
Responding to a question by the Prosecutor, Gruban denied that mass murders happened in the detention camp. He said that detainees were taken away from Omarska, but bodies of some of them were found in mass graves, which were more than 100 kilometres away from that place. Also, he said that the murder of 50 Bosniaks “did not happen” and that the witness, who said the opposite at his trial in Sarajevo, “lied”.
Gruban gave a similar answer concerning sexual abuse in Omarska, mentioning, as an example, victims, who changed their statements before the Court.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on March 3.
