Serbs Pushed into a Corner
Presenting his closing statement, Radovan Karadzic says that, in his capacity as Republika Srpska, RS, President, he did not need to react to information from ministries of internal affairs, MUP, regarding conditions in prisons.
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“All of the findings about crimes came from MUPs. There are documents, indicating that they were fighting against crimes. How can I or any other official be accused, knowing that the MUP revealed the crimes. You should only thank MUPs for revealing them, because Serbs are still tried for having been sinful at the time,” Karadzic said.
Commenting on The Hague Prosecution’s allegation that he did not allow the International Red Cross to visit Manjaca, Karadzic said that, even before June 1992, he ordered that access to detention camps for prisoners of war, as well as prisons, should be enabled.
As he said, the Prosecution relied on a joint criminal enterprise, JCE, because it could not find any sin of his.
“The JCE is applied to the mafia. In this case one ethnic group attacked another,” Karadzic said, pointing out that the Prosecution offered allusions as evidence against Serbs.
“War was declared against us. There were twice as many Muslims and Croats as us…NATO assistance, which included air strikes, cannons… Serbs were pushed into a corner. They behaved better than anyone would have done in their situation. In this case the Prosecution is trying to find out if any of us cursed somebody,” Karadzic said.
In regard to paramilitary units in Bijeljina, Brcko and Bratunac, Karadzic explained that they did not want to have anything to do with criminals, so they expelled them from those places.
“If the Prosecution’s position is to say that 235 Defence witnesses came to the trial to tell lies although they were subjected to cross-examination, it becomes clear that international justice is buried prior to being born,” Karadzic said.
He reminded the Tribunal that he used to be a politician and, in his capacity as RS President, he was Supreme Commander of the Army, and wondered what he ordered.
“I handed over a decision on military formation to the Main Headquarters. I requested that a corridor be opened and that Serb neighbourhoods in Sarajevo be saved. Everything else falls under the military profession,” Karadzic explained.
The presentation of the closing statement is due to be continued tomorrow, October 2.
