Karadzic: Shocked over Markale
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The British officer with the pseudonym KW-570 said the Bosnian Serbs were condemned for the attack even prior to the investigation.
He said it was unusual that the market was hit by only one grenade considering it is necessary to fire several projectiles to hit a target, which the Serb side usually did.
The witness, who said he visited the scene of the crime, said that due to the high buildings surrounding the market, he concluded the mortar should have been fired from nearby.
We were shocked that one shell could kill and wound all those people That was possible only if the market was totally full, said KW-570.
In UNPROFOR reports, the witness said, it was said it was possible Markale was hit by Mujahedin fighters targeting Jews being evacuated. The witness added UNPROFOR said it was also possible the market was hit from one of the buildings nearby.
Karadzic, then the President of Republika Srpska and the Supreme Commander of its army, is charged with the genocide of more than 7,000 Bosniaks and the persecution of tens of thousands of women and children following the occupation of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
He is also charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, terror against civilians in Sarajevo, and with taking UNPROFOR soldiers hostage in the period between 1992 and 1995.
According to the witness, former UNPROFOR commander Michael Rose told Bosnian Army general Jovan Divjak he had proof the Bosnian forces might have hit the market. The Bosnian generals response to this was silence, he added, after which came a series of justifications.
Bosnian Army forces in Sarajevo, had a strategy to cause incidents in the city in order to blame Serbs and trigger an international intervention. This strategy included opening fire from civilian buildings and hospitals.
KW-570 said the Bosnian government did not want to ease the suffering of Sarajevo citizens and even stopped water supplies.
While being cross examined by prosecutor Caroline Edgerton, the witness said he was not an expert on mortars and had never conducted an investigation about explosions.
Karadzics trial will resume on Monday, January 21.
