Karadzic Demands Removal of Another Trial Judge

Radovan Karadzic on Monday asked for judge William Sekule to be removed from the appeal process in his trial at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague.

Karadzic’s defence argued that Sekule is biased because he was on previous judging panels at the UN court that convicted former Bosnian Serb Army officers Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Vinko Pandurevic and Radivoje Miletic and former Bosnian Serb intelligence and security chief Zdravko Tolimir. All were found guilty of involvement in the Srebrenica genocide.

“In the verdicts against Popovic et al and Tolimir, judge Sekule rendered conclusions in relation to evidence and questions that are being brought up in the appellate procedure against Karadzic. Through those conclusions, judge Sekule confirmed verdicts of conviction against persons who were subordinate to Karadzic,” the defence’s motion said.

The move comes after Theodor Meron, the presiding judge in Karadzic’s appeal against his genocide and war crimes convictions, removed himself from the case last month after the former Bosnian Serb political leader’s defence accused him of bias.

Meron is also the president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.

Karadzic on Monday asked for Meron not to be allowed to appoint his own replacement or a replacement for judge Sekule.

“It cannot be fair for a judge, who has withdrawn or has been disqualified, to be able to continue to influence the case by appointing his own replacement,” the defence motion said.

Following his withdrawal, Meron appointed judge Ivo Nelson de Caires Batista Rosa to replace him.

Karadzic addressed his new motion to judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, who made the decision in September to remove three judges from the appeals procedure in the case against former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, also over allegations of bias.

Antonetti said in his decision that the three judges – who included Meron – “appear biased” because they had previously rendered conclusions linked to Mladic in other cases at the Hague court.

Karadzic and Mladic are on trial in separate proceedings for genocide in Srebrenica and several other municipalities, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

Under first-instance verdicts, Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years and Mladic to life imprisonment. Appeals procedures in both cases are currently underway.