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Yasushi Akashi, a Japanese diplomat who worked for the UN during the Bosnian war, testified at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday that he witnessed crimes by all sides in 1994 and 1995, but that the killings of thousands of Bosniaks by Bosnian Serb forces was the “worst crime”.
Prosecutor Alan Tieger asked the witness whether he agreed that that genocide was not one of the Bosnian government’s official policies, but was a policy of the Bosnian Serb leadership.
“That is correct,” replied Akashi.
However, during additional questioning by Mladic’s lawyer Dragan Invetic, the witness said he did not completely agree with the prosecutor’s assertion.
Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic is charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country, which allegedly reached the scale of genocide in six municipalities. He is also on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.
Akashi was the UN secretary-general’s envoy in Bosnia and Herzegovina for most of 1994 and 1995. He started his testimony on Monday, when he said that the Bosnian government did not want a permanent ceasefire in 1994 and 1995, unlike the Serbs.
Akashi said on Tuesday that after the fall of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb leaders did not to allow the Red Cross to see the Bosniak prisoners from the town.
“Our efforts were in vain,” e said.
When the Red Cross was finally allowed access to the Batkovici detention camp near Bijeljina, they found around 100 Srebrenica captives, while the “destiny of some 7,000 missing was unclear”, said Akashi.
“We were kept in the dark regarding what happened in Srebrenica,” he added.
Prosecutor Tieger quoted from Akashi’s book about the Bosnian conflict, in which he said that Mladic was an “emotional nationalist” who did not see Serb and non-Serb victims as equal.
Akashi also said in his book that a possible motive for Srebrenica was revenge for Serbs’ killings.
The witness agreed that he did write that, but said those were just his musings about the reason for the massacres.
Akashi also confirmed that Bosnian Serb forces captured UN peacekeepers in the summer of 1995 and used them as human shields to prevent NATO strikes.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
