Karadžić calls on Hague to drop proceedings

Radovan Karadzic has asked the Hague Tribunal to drop proceedings against him. He claims that a trial is “impossible“ because his rights have been denied, and because the U.S. and NATO are threatening him with physical and “judicial elimination“. Karadzic calls on Hague to drop proceedings Reiterating that in 1996, the U.S. and its envoy Richard Holbrooke had an agreement for him to withdraw from public life, in return for which Holbrooke guaranteed him immunity from prosecution, Karadzic, in a submission to the court yesterday, claims that the U.S. intended to “eliminate” him because of “unwillingness to honor the commitments that they made.” At the same time, says the former Bosnian Serb leader, the U.S. has imposed on him “a ban on a public defense” and has resorted to “intimidating the accused”. “I’m not dropping my demands to determine whether that agreement existed and whether this sham and the deception pulled off by the U.S. officials in the agreement have created a situation for continued attempts at my physical elimination,” writes Karadzic in his submission to the Trial Chamber. Pointing out the possibility of his elimination within the confines of the Tribunal prison, he calls for the court to determine “whether NATO, the U.S., and other members of that alliance intended or whether they still intend to eliminate me.” “Besides what was stated in an earlier submission, there are media reports on U.S. President Bill Clinton’s proposals to French President Jacques Chirac for my elimination, and these claims were never denied. Moreover, once I am permitted to receive evidence unhindered from my legal advisers, I will submit irrefutable proof of the NATO alliance’s firm intentions… to eliminate me. The proof comes from people with great credibility before this Tribunal,” he states. The accused then underlines that he is more concerned by the possibility of “judicial elimination” which, for NATO members, would be “more elegant and less risky”. According to Karadzic, “judicial elimination“ allows, among other things: changing the rules of the Tribunal “whenever someone requires it“; “trial by a hybrid, bastardized judicial system“; “a Trial Chamber line-up in which judges from NATO countries play a major role“; and with a “glaring absence of judges from Orthodox countries, Slavic countries, and countries of the free world.“ A just trial, stresses the former Bosnian Serb leader, is also not possible because he is “systematically, persistently and universally demonized,” something he has not opposed “in respecting the agreement with the U.S.” “That demonization has a huge impact on my position… in this legal matter to such an extent that no-one in the world believes in the possibility of an acquittal, regardless of the evidence I might put forward. In so doing, the basis for a fair trail before an international court is forever destroyed, the assumption of innocence is derogated and reduced to a laughable level, and my rights are irreparably damaged,” he claims. Karadzic was arrested by the Serbian authorities on July 21, and in his first appearance before the Tribunal on July 31, he deferred entry of a plea, claiming that he had an agreement with the U.S., for which it now wished to eliminate him. He will appear before the Trial Chamber a second time on Friday, when he will have another chance to enter a plea. Radovan Karadzic during his first court appearance (B92, archive)

Karadžić calls on Hague to drop proceedings

Reiterating that in 1996, the U.S. and its envoy Richard Holbrooke had an agreement for him to withdraw from public life, in return for which Holbrooke guaranteed him immunity from prosecution, Karadžić, in a submission to the court yesterday, claims that the U.S. intended to “eliminate” him because of “unwillingness to honor the commitments that they made.”

At the same time, says the former Bosnian Serb leader, the U.S. has imposed on him “a ban on a public defense” and has resorted to “intimidating the accused”.

“I’m not dropping my demands to determine whether that agreement existed and whether this sham and the deception pulled off by the U.S. officials in the agreement have created a situation for continued attempts at my physical elimination,” writes Karadžić in his submission to the Trial Chamber.

Pointing out the possibility of his elimination within the confines of the Tribunal prison, he calls for the court to determine “whether NATO, the U.S., and other members of that alliance intended or whether they still intend to eliminate me.”

“Besides what was stated in an earlier submission, there are media reports on U.S. President Bill Clinton’s proposals to French President Jacques Chirac for my elimination, and these claims were never denied. Moreover, once I am permitted to receive evidence unhindered from my legal advisers, I will submit irrefutable proof of the NATO alliance’s firm intentions… to eliminate me. The proof comes from people with great credibility before this Tribunal,” he states.

The accused then underlines that he is more concerned by the possibility of “judicial elimination” which, for NATO members, would be “more elegant and less risky”.

According to Karadžić, “judicial elimination“ allows, among other things: changing the rules of the Tribunal “whenever someone requires it“; “trial by a hybrid, bastardized judicial system“; “a Trial Chamber line-up in which judges from NATO countries play a major role“; and with a “glaring absence of judges from Orthodox countries, Slavic countries, and countries of the free world.“

A just trial, stresses the former Bosnian Serb leader, is also not possible because he is “systematically, persistently and universally demonized,” something he has not opposed “in respecting the agreement with the U.S.”

“That demonization has a huge impact on my position… in this legal matter to such an extent that no-one in the world believes in the possibility of an acquittal, regardless of the evidence I might put forward. In so doing, the basis for a fair trail before an international court is forever destroyed, the assumption of innocence is derogated and reduced to a laughable level, and my rights are irreparably damaged,” he claims.

Karadžić was arrested by the Serbian authorities on July 21, and in his first appearance before the Tribunal on July 31, he deferred entry of a plea, claiming that he had an agreement with the U.S., for which it now wished to eliminate him.

He will appear before the Trial Chamber a second time on Friday, when he will have another chance to enter a plea.