http://www.nolanchart.com/article6706.html
Balkan Report
columnist: Andy Wilcoxson
Topic: Crime and Punishment
Radovan Karadzic Previews Srebrenica Genocide Defense
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In a series of pre-trial briefs and a hearing last week former Bosnian Serb
president Radovan Karadzic gave the public a sneak peak of his defense
against charges of genocide in Srebrenica.
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by Andy Wilcoxson
(libertarian)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic gave a sneak-peak of his
Srebrenica defense during a hearing and a series of pre-trial briefs filed
at the Hague Tribunal last month.
Speaking at a pre-trial hearing on July 23rd Karadzic said, "This is the
last ever opportunity for us to clarify what happened in Bosnia, and
particularly in Srebrenica. ... I assure you that we are talking about the
differences that can be numbered in the thousands of victims [this] is
matter of establishing the facts, and if we do that, I don't even care what
the Trial Chamber's decision will be about me. I just want to find the
truth." He said, "Everything in relation to Srebrenica that has been
presented so far is erroneous ... everything is contentious and everything
needs to be established fact by fact."
Karadzic did not dispute the fact that there were some executions. He said,
"people's hands were tied, and based on that we can assume that those people
were executed, but this is a generalization which cannot be used to
establish the guilt of an entire people, not only one person." He said, "We
have to establish the truth. When somebody died, whether they died in 1992,
1993, or 1995; whether they were killed in combat or whether they were
killed as a result of executions."
It would be a mistake to treat Karadzic's reference to executions as an
admission that Bosnian-Serb forces executed innocent Bosnian-Muslims from
Srebrenica. The Srebrenica Muslims were anything but innocent. In 1992
Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica attacked, massacred, and sadistically
tortured Bosnian-Serbs in the surrounding villages. Video evidence of their
handiwork can be seen here and here.
During the trial of Slobodan Milosevic the former UN Protection Force
commander in Bosnia, General Philippe Morillon, described Srebrenica as a
"hellish circle of revenge." He said the Bosnian-Muslims "engaged in attacks
during Orthodox holidays and destroyed villages, massacring all the
inhabitants. This created a degree of hatred that was quite extraordinary in
the region."
The presiding trial judge asked Morillon point-blank: "Are you saying, then,
General, that what happened in 1995 was a direct reaction to what Naser Oric
[the Bosnian-Muslim military commander in Srebrenica] did to the Serbs two
years before?" Morillon responded, "Yes. Yes, Your Honour. I am convinced of
that."
During the pre-trial hearing Karadzic set out a series of arguments that, if
he can prove even some of them, will seriously undermine the credibility of
those alleging genocide in Srebrenica. He said, "graves are being dug out
[and] bodies are being moved to Srebrenica in order to prove a point ...
There are living people whose names are on the tombstones. In the first
elections, there were people who voted who had been listed as missing and
killed. ... There were people who fell victims in combat throughout the
entire period, and people who died in 1992 on 1993 [who] were later on
portrayed as victims of massacre in Srebrenica ... there are many people
living abroad who were listed as missing."
Indeed, there is no dispute between the prosecution and the defense that
many of the bodies found in the mass graves around Srebrenica had been
dug-up from other locations and reburied. The prosecution's explanation is
that this was done to conceal evidence of killings. Karadzic's explanation
appears to be that those bodies were re-buried to inflate the body count and
give credence to the allegation of genocide.
Karadzic raised the possibility that victims are being double and even
triple counted by investigators. For example, if the same person's DNA is
found in three separate gravesites they may be counted as three separate
victims. He said, "There is a multifold exaggeration here. We wish to
establish exactly who perished and whose DNA was provided in order to be
able to say that, yes, this number of victims is beyond contention ... I
have mentioned primary, secondary, and tertiary graves. One DNA could have
been portrayed three times representing three persons and we need to verify
everything."
To ascertain whether double-counting has taken place, Karadzic is demanding
that his expert team be given access to all of the post-mortem and DNA
evidence. His intention is to compare 300 random samples from all of the DNA
collected to see if there are any duplicates. If there are, his expert team
will analyze all of the samples until they ascertain how many unique samples
have been found.
Unfortunately, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), which
handles the exhumations and the DNA analysis, is not sharing the evidence
with Karadzic's defense team. As it turns out, nobody from the Tribunal has
ever seen the DNA evidence. Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff told the
court, "The ICMP did also not provide the DNA to us. They have it. So it's
not that they give it to us and not to others."
It's a little bit shocking that the Tribunal relies on the ICMP's findings
to substantiate allegations as grave as genocide when they haven't even seen
the evidence -- let alone tested its quality or reliability. When dealing
with allegations as serious as genocide you'd think they'd be more careful.
In a pre-trial brief filed on June 29th, Karadzic challenged the Tribunal's
questionable use of the term "genocide" in relation to Srebrenica.
In the Krstic case Tribunal ruled that "the existence of a plan or policy is
not a legal ingredient of the crime of genocide." Krstic was convicted of
genocide in Srebrenica in spite of the fact that the judges found, "no
statements by members of the VRS Main Staff indicating that the killing of
the Bosnian Muslim men was motivated by genocidal intent to destroy the
Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica."
The Tribunal uses such a broad definition of genocide that the killing of
military personnel during a war qualifies. In the Krstic judgment the
tribunal found that "a percentage of the bodies in the gravesites examined
may have been of men killed in combat."
According to the ICTY appeals chamber, "the Trial Chamber treated the
killing of the men of military age as evidence from which to infer that
Radislav Krstic and some members of the VRS Main Staff had the requisite
intent to destroy all the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica." Their ruling said,
"the perpetrator's genocidal intent will almost invariably encompass
civilians, but that is not a legal requirement of the offence of genocide."
Srebrenica genocide deniers, such as myself, reject the tribunal's
definition of genocide and the inference it's based upon. The definition of
"genocide" used in relation to Srebrenica could be applied to almost any
military conflict.
In his pre-trial brief, Karadzic held that "genocide is a specific intent
crime" and as such the prosecutor must prove the existence of a genocidal
plan. He pointed to the work of prominent international lawyer Raphael
Lemkin who was instrumental in drafting the Genocide Convention.
Lemkin invented the word genocide in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe,
where he wrote: "By 'genocide' we mean the destruction of a nation or of an
ethnic group. This new word, coined by the author to denote an old practice
in its modern development, is made from the ancient Greek word genos (race,
tribe) and the Latin cide (killing), thus corresponding in its formation to
such words as tyrannicide, homicide, infanticide, etc.(1) Generally
speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a
nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a
nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different
actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of
national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves."
Ever since the word genocide was invented the existence of a plan has been
an essential requirement. Karadzic went on to cite judgments from the
Israeli courts, the Nuremburg tribunal, and the statute of the ICC all of
which hold that a plan is an essential ingredient in the crime of genocide.
He concluded his argument by stating that "The ICTY should join its sister
Tribunals in concluding that the existence of a plan is a required element
of genocide."
In a separate motion filed by the defense on July 22nd, Karadzic asked the
court to subpoena NATO command for documents related to airlifts by US C-130
aircraft to the Bosnian-Muslim airbase in Tuzla. In the filing Karadzic
stated that "guns and other military equipment was delivered from Tuzla by
helicopter to Zepa, largely to be forwarded in transit from there to
Srebrenica. Both were UN safe zones from which the Bosnian Muslim Army
launched attacks against the Bosnian Serbs."
Karadzic wrote in the filing that "the material related to the sighting of
aircraft carrying supplies of arms into Tuzla for onward shipment to the
safe area of Srebrenica, is relevant to rebut the allegation in the
indictment that Dr. Karadzic was part of a joint criminal enterprise to
eliminate the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica. The documents obtained will
support Dr. Karadzic's defence that there was a legitimate military
objective to commence operations in March 1995 directed at the enclaves,
since they had become a safe haven to which weapons were being smuggled and
from which attacks on Serb civilians were being launched.
"In addition, documents showing the actual presence of an aircraft carrying
weapons in violation of the United Nations Arms Embargo on the side of the
Bosnian Muslims from NATO member states are relevant to the credibility and
bias of international witnesses from those states to be called by the
prosecution for the purpose of establishing violations of United Nations
safe zones and other agreements on the part of Dr. Karadzic and the Bosnian
Serbs."
If the pre-trial hearings are this interesting one can only imagine what
Karadzic has in store for the Tribunal when his trial starts and he gets to
cross-examine witnesses and call evidence.
Andy Wilcoxson administers a website where he covered Milosevic's trial in
The Hague. He recently finished writing a book about the break up of
Yugoslavia based on the information that came to light during the course of
Milosevic's trial. He was a founding member of Milosevic’s defense committee
in The Hague. He can be reached via e-mail.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
