Karadzic Loses Bid for Bosnia, Serbia Hearings
Judges say defendant has not shown that trial sessions in three regional cities would be in the interests of justice.
Karadzic Loses Bid for Bosnia, Serbia Hearings
Judges say defendant has not shown that trial sessions in three regional cities would be in the interests of justice.
Judges have rejected wartime Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic’s request to hold part of his upcoming defence case in Bosnia and Serbia.
In a written request on May 7, Karadzic – who represents himself in court – asked for three trial sessions lasting one week each in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in Banja Luka, the main city of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia, and in Serbia’s capital Belgrade. (See Karadzic Wants Trial Hearings in Bosnia and Serbia.)
Such a move would, Karadzic argued, “bring the work of the tribunal directly to the people for whom it is intended to benefit, thus fostering a greater understanding of the work of the tribunal by people in the former Yugoslavia”.
Karadzic said he planned to call witnesses living in these cities, as well as people imprisoned there. Holding hearings in situ would save witnesses having to travel to The Hague, “or, in the case of incarcerated witnesses, to be transported to the Hague and housed in the detention unit”, he argued.
In a decision issued on July 4, judges rejected these arguments, saying the trial would continue in The Hague as planned.
“The chamber is not satisfied that mere convenience is a reason warranting that hearings be held away from the seat of the tribunal,” they said.
The judges noted that the tribunal had a unit tasked with assisting victims and witnesses who come to testify, which they said should alleviate some of the defendant’s concerns.
They conceded that the argument about bringing the work of the tribunal to the former Yugoslavia was “an important consideration”, but said such a move would be “exceptional” and Karadzic had not established that it would be in the interests of justice.
Karadzic’s defence case is slated to begin in October.
On June 28, judges acquitted him of one count of genocide relating to seven Bosnian municipalities in 1992. (See Karadzic Acquitted of One Genocide Count.)
However, he remains charged with genocide relating to the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 men and boys in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, as well as counts of persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, terror, unlawful attacks and the taking of United Nations peacekeepers as hostages.
The prosecution rested its case in May, after two years of witness testimony.
Rachel Irwin is IWPR Senior Reporter in the Hague.
