Karadzic Allowed to Give Only Written Interview

The long-running dispute between Radovan Karadzic and the Hague tribunal over him giving a media interview from his cell appears to have been resolved after the court’s vice-president upheld a decision to allow him only written contact with a journalist.



Judge O’Gon Kwon ruled on April 21 that the court’s registry had correctly applied the rules of the United Nations prison in denying the former Bosnian Serb president the use of a telephone to conduct an interview with Zvezdana Vukojevic, a journalist from the Dutch magazine, Revu.



Karadzic has been in custody in The Hague since July 2008 and is awaiting trial on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including two for genocide – committed in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995.



The vice-president ruled on February 12 that Karadzic would be allowed to give an interview, overturning the registry’s initial decision not to permit this.



Judge Kwon ruled that while the interview could not be face-to-face at the prison, it could take the form of “written communication, telephone calls, or whatever other means the Registrar deems appropriate”.



Subsequent to Judge Kwon’s ruling, the registry authorised Karadzic to conduct the interview by letter, prompting the accused to complain that he should be allowed to speak to the journalist by telephone.



He argued that human rights principles required the court to offer him the least restrictive means available to contact the journalist, and should therefore allow him to do so by telephone.



He said that written communication lacked the spontaneity of a telephone interview and that the media would not be interested in an interview conducted via written communication.



However, the registrar argued that using a telephone for the interview could interfere with Karadzic’s imminent trial by giving him the opportunity to disclose confidential information – a view supported by Judge Kwon this week.



“Unlike instantaneous contact over the telephone, all written correspondence from [Karadzic] to Ms Vukojevic can be thoroughly checked by registry staff to ensure that no confidential information is contained therein before the correspondence is conveyed to Ms Vukojevic,” wrote the judge in his ruling.



He also ruled that the registrar had rightly addressed fears that a telephone interview could prompt concerns about security at the prison.



Karadzic is the first war crimes suspect to gain permission to give an interview to the press from custody in The Hague.



The former wartime head of the Bosnian Serb administration wants to speak to the media about a deal he allegedly made with former United States envoy Richard Holbrooke, who he claims promised him immunity from prosecution in The Hague in return for stepping down from politics in 1996. Holbrooke has denied making the agreement.



While Karadzic has repeatedly claimed that the alleged agreement makes him exempt from proceedings at the court, judges have ruled that even if such a deal had been made, it would have no bearing on the trial.



That decision was confirmed on appeal on April 6, but Karadzic has claimed that he has more evidence on the agreement and has said he intends to file a further motion claiming immunity.



Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.