Karadzic: “The United States Promised Me That I Would Never Be Tried"

The Hague publishes the initial allegations of the ex Serbian-Bosnian leader that the Judge did not permit him to read yesterday in his first appearance.

Yesterday he intended to recite it before Judge Alphons Orie in his first appearance before the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia but the Judge interrupted his account. It was the initial allegations of Radovan Karadzic, the ex leader of the Serbians of Bosnia in the judgment that was initiated yesterday against him in the Hague where he was accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Today the four pages that constitute the allegations have been made public. In it, he denounces the United States for promising him immunity for his crimes during the Bosnian war (1192-95) in exchange for withdrawal from public life. Besides, he believes it “unimaginable” that he is going to have a just judgment in The Hague.

According to Karadzic, Richard Holbrooke, ex number two of the United States State Department and architect of the Dayton Accords that put and end to the Bosnian War, promised him that, “he would not be judged by the ICTY.” In exchange Karadzic should “disappear completely from the public sphere, becoming sufficiently invisible so that the Dayton Accords can be fulfilled.” Yesterday Karadzic said that Holbrooke made him the offer of immunity in the name of the United States and that now he fears for his life which is why he asked, “if his arm (of Holbrooke) is long enough to reach all the way here (the prison in the Hague where Karadzic is detained).” In the allegation Karadzic reiterated that the American diplomat is interested in his death. Yesterday the diplomat emphatically denied Karadzic’s accusations, knowing nothing more about them.

According to the ex Serbian-Bosnian leader, he intended to obtain from Holbrooke the same deal for his military arm executor, General Ratko Mladic, still fleeing from justice, but once that Holbrooke was given account that he would not be able to avoid the persecution of the ICTY, he decided to go to “plan B: liquidate Radovan Karadzic.”

Karadzic intended yesterday in his first appearance before Judge Alphons Orie of the ICTY to read four pages that he brought prepared as initial allegations. The judge impeded him saying that they didn’t have to anything to do with the legal moment in which they were, basically views to inform the accused of the charges of which he is accused: one of genocide, another of conspiracy for genocide, five for crimes against humanity, and another four for war crimes.

Unimaginable Acquittal

In these four pages, Karadzic underlines one of the things that he also intended to say yesterday, that his detention was irregular. “My arrival here was accompanied by many drastic irregularities,” as read in the now famous four pages. “The first irregularity that I would like to mention is the media witch hunt that began in the Muslim media even before the armed conflict and that proclaimed me a war criminal in a time when the only victims were Serbian,” said Karadzic. “The international media continued this witch hunt, in a way unimaginable for many people that this tribunal might absolve me. I believe that this puts the trial itself at risk.”

“What type of regularity can there be when everything takes place in an atmosphere which, independently from the truth can be demonstrated in this room, nobody on the Earth believes in the possibility of my acquittal?”, says Karadzic to the judges.