http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/278714,karadzic-srebrenica-death-toll-was-exaggerated--summary.html
Karadzic: Srebrenica death toll was exaggerated - Summary
Posted on : 2009-07-23 | Author : DPA
The Hague - Former Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic
claimed Thursday that the commonly accepted number of victims of the
Srebrenica massacre had been overstated, at a preliminary war crimes hearing
in The Hague. Karadzic said "we are convinced that there is manifold
exaggeration here," and suggested that the real number of victims was many
thousands fewer.
The Srebrenica Massacre, which took place in July 1995 during the
Bosnian War, was the killing of around 8,000 Muslim Bosnian men and boys. It
is held as the largest mass murder in Europe since WWII.
Karadzic was the president of the Serbian part of Bosnia during the
war and as such is accused of responsibility for the murders.
Karadzic was appearing Thursday at a preliminary hearing of his war
crimes trial at the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia in The Hague.
He has been indicted for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against
humanity.
Karadzic demanded Thursday access to DNA evidence on the massacre, as
well as the presentation of a "correct list of victims."
Karadzic maintained that many of the victims included in the 8,000
total were either killed elsewhere during the conflict, were outside of the
country, or had in fact turned up alive.
"Everything in relation to Srebrenica that has been presented so far
is erroneous," said Karadzic, a former psychiatrist who is defending himself
at the trial.
Karadzic was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade, where he had been living
practically unnoticed, with the help of a heavy beard, as an alternative
medicine practitioner.
Meanwhile the tribunal also ordered ordered the prosecution to reduce
and simplify its indictment against the former Bosnian Serb leader.
The decision marks an apparent attempt to meet demands by the UN
security council, which is reluctant to extend the ICTY's mandate, to speed
up ongoing proceedings.
New procedural rules first implemented in 2003 authorize the tribunal
to order the reduction of charges to enable quicker proceedings.
At the time, the new regulations were adopted to the dismay of
then-chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who advocated the tribunal's absolute
impartiality.
The new rules were adopted during the preliminary phase of the trial
of the late Slobodan Milosovic, former president of Yugoslavia.
Milosevic's trial started in 2002 but had not been completed when he
died in detention in 2006. Criticisms of the trial taking too long were
first raised during Milosevic's preliminary trial hearings.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
