War Crimes & Bosnia: Karadzic Testifies at International Criminal Tribunal

Fulya Inci writes for EA:

After boycotting his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for months, Radovan Karadzic, the former President of Republika Srpska (the Serbian Republic in Bosnia) has finally delivered his opening statement. He claimed that his goal was to keep Yugoslavia together rather than pursuit of a war, a goal he described as “just and holy”.

Karadzic refused to attend the presentation of the prosecution's introductory arguments last October and asked for a postponement of the trial. His request was denied by the court. After he was told that his right of defense would be taken away if he refused one more time, Karadzic gave way.

The prosecution has accused Karadzic of 11 crimes, including the genocide in Srebrenica of Bosnian Muslims and the killing of about 10,000 people during the 43-month siege of Sarajevo siege from 1992 to 1995. Karadzic responded that Bosnian Muslims had “the Islamist goal” to take full power in Bosnia and that was unacceptable for Bosnian Serbs. He also accused the Western countries of raising tensions by recognizing Bosnia’s independence.

Karadzic rejected the specific charges, alleging that the prosecution wanted to make a secret agreement with enemies of Serbs. He said that their need to paint him as a monster stemmed from a lack of evidence against him.