Karadzic Wants to be Final Witness in his Defence
Accused says his testimony will depend on what others say beforehand.
Karadzic Wants to be Final Witness in his Defence
Accused says his testimony will depend on what others say beforehand.
Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic indicated this week that if he takes the stand in his upcoming defence case, he will be the very last witness to testify.
Judges had previously expressed a preference for having Karadzic appear as the first witness in his defence case. In a written filing on September 11, however, the accused said his own testimony would depend on what other defence witnesses had to say.
“[Karadzic’s] testimony will depend in large part on what evidence he is able to elicit from his defence witnesses and whether his testimony is actually needed for his defence. Therefore, he maintains his position that if he testifies, he will do so as the last defence witness,” the accused, who represents himself, stated.
The defence case is slated to begin on October 16.
Prosecutors allege that Karadzic, the president of Bosnia's self-declared Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996, is responsible for crimes of genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and forcible transfer which "contributed to achieving the objective of the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnian Serb-claimed territory".
He is also accused of planning and overseeing the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left nearly 12,000 people dead, as well as the massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995.
Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in July 2008 after 13 years on the run.
Rachel Irwin is IWPR's Senior Reporter in The Hague.
