Karadzic: Trace of Smoke in the Sky

During the course of cross-examination Per Anton Brennskag recalled having seen, from an observation point located in the vicinity of the TV building in Sarajevo, a modified air bomb hitting the building in the morning hours on June 28, 1995.

“First I saw smoke coming out of the projectile. I then followed the smoke trail in order to see where the projectile had come from. I heard an explosion afterwards, of course, but I saw the smoke trace first,” the witness said, adding he informed the UN Military Observers Headquarters in Sarajevo about the incident.

Brennskag said the air bomb was fired from the area of Ilidza, which, as alleged by the Prosecution, was under the control of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, at the time.

Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and Supreme Commander of its armed forces, is charged with the shelling and sniping of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, in addition to other war crimes.

The indictment against him lists 15 shelling incidents that took place in Sarajevo. The Prosecution considers that one-third of the incidents were conducted using modified air bombs fired from VRS positions.

Karadzic presented the witness with a report, which, as he said, was made by Captain Thomas Hansen. The report alleges that an air bomb was fired from the territories controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, on that day.

“No, that is not true. I did not see what Mr. Hansen saw. (…) I do not know why the report was made in this way. It is not up to me to comment on its contents. I only know what I saw on that day. (…)

“You have got my word for it. I am under the oath and I do not see why my report would be associated with this one,” the witness explained, adding he did not know whether ABiH possessed air bombs.

Reading from a diary in which the witness recorded individual incidents that happened in Sarajevo, Karadzic examined him about another incident that happened in Gete Street, where, as Brennskag had noted, a girl was killed.

“This happened on June 22, 1995. We opened an investigation into the explosion. We noted down that a severely wounded girl had been carried from the explosion location. I saw her and I thought she was dead. Later on I found out that she had indeed been killed,” the witness said.

Karadzic asked the witness whether this incident took place in a civilian zone without any military targets. The witness responded by saying he “did not see any military buildings” in the vicinity of the location hit by the projectile.

The witness explained that in the summer of 1995 he was not aware of “a big offensive” initiated, as Karadzic said, by the ABiH forces in Sarajevo.

“As I said, we faced huge problems in performing our tasks in Sarajevo at that time. VRS prevented our observers from passing, so no observers were situated on that side.

“In addition, we did not know what was happening inside the city because of restrictions imposed on us by ABiH. On the basis of investigations and what I personally saw, I can say that modified air bombs exploded and killed civilians at that time,” Brennskag said.

The Prosecution is now due to examine two more witnesses via video link.

A.A.