Karadzic: Completed and Remains Serbian
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Butler, who prepared his report about the chain of command within the VRS on the basis of hundreds of documents, said that Karadzic was on the top of that chain, as supreme commander of the Republika Srpska, RS armed forces, which consisted of the Army, police and territorial defence.
The expert witness said that the nine directives, which Karadzic issued to the VRS during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, represented political and military instructions from the top level on how to conduct the war. According to Butler, Karadzic’s directives number four and seven give a true reflection of the goals of Bosnian Serbs in Podrinje area.
Under the Directive no. 4, Karadzic ordered the VRS, in November 1992, to cause the biggest possible losses to the enemy and force the enemy to leave the area, along with the civilian population.
Saying that a significant number of Bosniaks still lived in Podrinje at that time, Butler said that the purpose of Karadzic’s directive was to create conditions for the departure of the Bosniak population ahead of the offensive by Serb forces, which happened at the beginning of 1993.
Two years later, in March 1995, Karadzic sent a Directive no. 7 to the Army, ordering it to conduct well-thought actions in order to create an unbearable situation of complete uncertainty for the Bosniak population in Srebrenica depriving them of hope for future life and survival in the enclave.
Karadzic, former President of RS, is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Bosniaks, whom the VRS shot in the days that followed the occupation of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. Also, he is charged with persecuting Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo by a long-lasting sniping campaign and taking UNPROFOR soldiers hostage in the period from 1992 to 1995.
Prosecution expert Butler said that the Directive no. 7 was completely in line with the ultimate goal of the Bosnian Serbs – definitive liberation of the Drina valley from Bosniaks and the elimination of the UN protected zones in Eastern Bosnia Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde.
The survival of the Bosniak population would mean that they army would stay too, which was unacceptable for Bosnian Serbs, Butler said.
The Prosecutors tried to prove that Karadzic was directly and timely informed and involved in the VRS attack on Srebrenica by quoting his conversation with general Milenko Zivanovic, the then Commander of the VRS Drina Corps, on the first day of the operation, July 6, 1995. A recording of that conversation was found in Belgrade apartment of General Ratko Mladic’s family during the search of the apartment by Serbian police in February 2010. Mladic is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His trial before The Hague Tribunal is due to begin on May 14.
During the conversation Zivanovic informed Karadzic that he executed the direct task of conquering the heights around Srebrenica. Karadzic instructed him that he could get reinforcements from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS, in case he requested it through the VRS Main Headquarters. At the end of the conversation Karadzic gave an order to Zivanovic, saying: Proceed in full steam, asking him to convey the order to Radislav Krstic, the then Chief of Headquarters of the VRS Drina Corps, who directly commanded the attack on Srebrenica.
In 2004 The Hague Tribunal sentenced Radislav Krstic to 35 years in prison.
As supreme commander, Karadzic did not confine himself to receiving information about the VRS’ activities, but he had and used the possibility to call the commanders in the field in order to obtain new pieces of information and issue direct instructions to them. He was an engaged participant in this process. He had detained information about the events in Srebrenica, as well as other battlefields, former US officer Butler said.
Prosecutor Jullian Nicholls quoted a document of July 9, 1995, with which he approved the decisive attack and occupation of Srebrenica in response to a question by general Zdravko Tolimir, the then Chief Security and Intelligence Officer of the VRS Main Headquarters.
The Main Headquarters of VRS received an approval from supreme commander Karadzic to proceed with the offensive and occupy Srebrenica, expert witness Butler said.
Prosecutor Nicholls showed a map of the attack on Srebrenica, on which VRS Commander Ratko Mladic wrote, on July 12, following the occupation of the enclave by VRS: Completed. Now this belongs to the Serbs and remains Serbian.
The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on April 18.
R.M.
