Serbs Wanted to Stop Bosnian Islamic State
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Vojo Kupresanin, a former official of the Serb Democratic Party, told Mladics trial at the Hague Tribunal on Thursday that the Bosnian Serbs wanted to prevent Bosniak leader Alija Izetbegovic from setting up a Muslim republic.
Kupresanin, one of the Serb leaders in the Bosanska Krajina region, initially told the UN-backed court that he did not tell the Republika Srpska Parliament that our clear objective is to destroy Alijas state.
The prosecutor then showed him a transcript of the parliament session, suggesting that he meant that he wanted to destroy independent and unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But the witness responded: When I speak about Alijas state, Im talking about an Islamic state, based on Izetbegovics Islamic declaration Im not talking about unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina We wanted to destroy the concept of an Islamic state.
Mladic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, is charged with, among other things, the persecution of Muslims and Croats across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The goal of that persecution, according to the indictment, was the creation of a Serb state in the country.
But Kupresanin said that the goal of the Serbs, on the eve of the war, was for Bosnia and Herzegovina to stay within Yugoslavia. He recalled that the vast majority of Bosnian Serbs voted in a plebiscite in late 1991 to remain part of Yugoslavia.
I dont think that was a step towards the break-up of Bosnia and Herzegovina but the democratic will of the people We wanted to stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina if Bosnia and Herzegovina remained within Yugoslavia. The constitution guaranteed us that, Kupresanin said.
Asked by the chairman of the panel of judges, Alphons Orie, whether he advocated the creation of an independent Serb state, Kupresanin responded: At that time, no.
The prosecutor quoted from the record of paarliamentary session in February 1992, during which Kupresanin called Muslims and Croats our natural enemies and said that Serbs shouldnt have anything with them.
I dont remember that These are harsh words, the witness responded.
Mladic is also on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
The trial continues on Monday.
