Karadžić to testify in Krajišnik appeal

THE HAGUE -- Radovan Karadžić will appear as a witness in Momčilo Krajišnik’s appeal hearing.

Radovan Karadžić (FoNet, archive)

Krajišnik, sentenced to 27 years in prison, and Karadžić, arrested in July, met on September 12 in the Tribunal’s detention unit in Scheveningen.

The meeting, which lasted for three hours, had been approved beforehand by the Tribunal, to allow the former Republic of Srpska (RS) speaker to determine whether Karadžić’s testimony might help him in his appeal.

After establishing that Karadžić’s testimony could have a significant effect on the court’s final verdict, Krajišnik asked for the former Bosnian Serb leader to be officially included on the witness list, and for the court to authorize further meetings between the two in the detention unit.

Krajišnik insists that Karadžić’s name crops up on numerous occasions throughout the entire verdict.

As for Karadžić, he will appear today before the Trial Chamber at a regular status conference.

The court is due to discuss issues raised by Karadžić in his correspondence with the court today, including his motion for the trial against him to be halted, because, in his opinion, the Tribunal cannot give him a fair trial.

The former Bosnian Serb leader's lawyer Goran Petronijević says that his client will again raise the issue of the amended indictment, announced by the Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, but which has yet to be made public.