Serbia: Karadzic 'a victim of international conspiracy'
Belgrade, 14 April (AKI) – The brother of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, on trial for charges of genocide and war crimes, says he is an innocent victim of an international conspiracy. Luka Karadzic, Radovan's younger brother, told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an exclusive interview that his brother had simply defended his own people against Muslim domination. “He’s a victim of an international conspiracy and there isn’t one single document that could prove his guilt,” Karadzic (photo) told AKI. “There is nothing that Radovan, our family or the Serbian people have to be ashamed of in the war. We just defended ourselves to avoid a repetition of the genocide committed against Serbs in World War II." However, Luka Karadzic later acknowledged that crimes had been committed at Srebrenica, the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys. "Yes, crimes have been committed, but there was no genocide, nor genocidal intentions," Luka Karadzic said. Radovan Karadzic has rejected 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and is conducting his own defence before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Luka Karadzic said at the very outset of the war, in which about 100,000 people were killed, that his brother issued clear orders that international conventions be strictly respected in relation to the conduct of the war. “We have the documents to prove it, while The Hague tribunal has nothing and is relying on false witnesses to put the blame on my brother and the entire Serbian people for the war which was imposed on us,” Karadzic said. Luka Karadzic was asked why Radovan Karadzic spent 13 years as a fugitive living under the assumed name of Dragan Dabic before he was arrested in Belgrade in 2008 if he was innocent. “Because it was clear from the very beginning that the Hague tribunal was a political instrument, devised to try and convict only Serbs, not a court of law,” Luka Karadzic said. “If it were truly a court of law, he would have nothing to fear and would have turned himself in without hesitation." Fifty-nine year-old Luka Karadzic is a stocky man who bears little resemblance to his older brother. He operates a small restaurant and butcher shop in the centre of Belgrade. A father of three, Luka has not been to see his brother in The Hague but speaks to him daily by telephone. Radovan's wife and children visited him during Easter and said he was in good spirits. Luka Karadzic played no active role himself in military operations during the war, but firmly shares his brother's convictions. “Radovan is not defending himself, but the Serbian people from false accusations,” he said. He recalled Karadzic’s opening defence statement before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague in March when he gave his interpretation of the genesis of the Bosnian war, blaming it on Muslim leaders and the international community. “Whoever listened carefully to his statement, knows what the truth is, but I’m afraid the tribunal is not interested in the truth," Luka Karadzic said. "Radovan has already been sentenced by the western media and the tribunal’s task is just to confirm it." “With some honourable exceptions, the western media are following the instructions of their political leaders who broke up Yugoslavia, caused the war and reserved the role of culprits for Serbs alone,” he said. On Tuesday the first of 410 prosecution witnesses, Ahmet Zulic faced Karadzic in the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. A Bosnian Muslim, he said his father-in-law had been burned alive by Serbian forces and testified that prisoners were beaten, tortured and killed in the Manjaca detention camp, operated by Bosnian Serb forces in northwest Bosnia. Zulic has testified in three other cases, including the trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died of a heart attack in 2006 before his trial concluded. “What kind of a court it is in which one man testifies in four different cases,” Karadzic asks. “Besides, the court allows evidence from other cases to be used against my brother, as verified facts." Karadzic criticised the Hague tribunal for inconsistency in acquitting Bosnian Muslim commander Naser Oric and a wartime leader of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Ramus Haradinaj, who was accused of crimes against Serbs. Oric was charged with “chain of command responsibility” for killing over 3,000 Serbs in the Srebrenica area, before the July 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims by Serb forces. But the tribunal ruled Oric could not have known what his forces were doing in the field. “And how could Radovan have known what his forces were doing, when he spent most of his time travelling, negotiating and attending conferences with Muslim and Croat leaders and international officials,” Luka Karadzic said. He said Muslims, Serbs and Croats suffered similar casualties in the Bosnian war in proportion to the population. “How come only Muslims are being portrayed as ‘sacrificial lambs’ and the Serbs as culprits and aggressors?” Karadzic said. “Crimes have been committed on all sides and the culprits should be individually punished. But in The Hague we have seen only Serbs being handed drastic sentences,” Karadzic said. “Radovan’s only goal is to tell the truth for the sake of history and future generations. Of course, history is primarily for historians, but perhaps some politicians will ask themselves what place it reserved for them.” http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.250005323
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