LOCAL PRESS

 

Djuric: Thaqi’s call for Serbia to recognize Kosovo frivolous (Tanjug/RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric dismissed as frivolous Kosovo President Hashim Thaqi’s call for Serbia to recognize Kosovo, adding that threats and chauvinist and nationalist incidents lead to nowhere. Thaqi and Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri can only dream of Serbian institutions in Kosovo and Metohija being abolished, Djuric told reporters in Belgrade. “It is a message to Serbs that says we do not want you here. I am confident that most responsible, serious and honest people do not think like that, and we will never let our institutions be marginalized”, he noted.

Koha ditore has quoted Thaqi as saying that Belgrade and Pristina need a compromise for a better future and that Serbia needs to recognize Kosovo and stop blocking what he called its international integration.

 

Djuric: Trepca should be discussed in Belgrade (RTS)

The Kosovo government has formed a commission for drafting the law on Trepca. Serb members of the Kosovo government, who voted against and were outvoted, are dissatisfied with the number of Serb members of the commission and the manner in which this body will operate. Belgrade’s message is that Trepca’s creditors are Serbian companies and that they are the only ones that can claim the right to Trepca’s property. “These are companies owned by the Republic of  Serbia and the Serbian government, which is the majority owner of Trepca. The right address for discussion on Trepca is Belgrade and the place for resolving it is the negotiating table and dialogue for which Belgrade is ready, and not only ready but we demand the resolution of disputable issues in regard to property,” the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said.

 

Djuric: Vucic to visit Kosovo soon (Tanjug)

During a visit he paid to the Zubin Potok municipality, Djuric said that Serbia would continue to fund all Serbian institutions in Kosovo and would continue to provide their services as before. His meeting with representatives of the municipality, after which he visited three villages in the region, was attended by Serb representatives in Kosovo institutions - Ministers Ljubomir Maric and Dalibor Jevtic. Djuric said that Prime Minister Vucic would visit Kosovo and Metohija soon, adding that the Prime Minister was actively engaged in the effort of providing concrete help to the Serb community in Kosovo. In regard to the upcoming elections, he assessed that Serbia needed a strong government in order to be able to protect interests at the international and domestic level because of which, as he put it, these elections were also important in Kosovo and Metohija. “It is important for the Kosovo Serbs to be united regarding the support to the policy that means survival and implementation of everything that is necessary so the people could survive. I expect the elections in Kosovo and Metohija to be held in all regions where Serbs live and I expect the outcome to be as high as possible,” he said. Djuric said that the Community of Serb Municipalities will be formed, pointing out that he doesn’t think it was too smart for Pristina officials to frequently threaten with the abolishment of Serbian institutions, even the abolishment of Serbian schools, hospitals and spiritual institutions.

 

Seselj not to attend delivering of verdict in ICTY (Tanjug)

The Hague tribunal has said in a release that the ICTY trial chamber would deliver the verdict in the Vojislav Seselj case on 31 March at 10 a.m. without Seselj attending. The ICTY asked Seselj to inform them in writing by 22 March if he wanted to watch the pronouncement of the verdict from Belgrade via video-link. The explanation of the decision, signed by Judge Mandiaye Niang, says that the verdict will be delivered on 31 March despite the absence of the defendant, not because his presence is not required, but rather because he refuses to be present at the courtroom and because Serbian authorities are not using adequate mechanisms to force him do that.

 

Still no written verdict to Ivanovic (Novosti)

The EULEX Trial Chamber has still not revealed a written verdict to the leader of the Civic Initiative SDP Oliver Ivanovic, his lawyers said. Ivanovic has been sentenced to nine years in prison, because of alleged war crimes committed in 1999 in Kosovska Mitrovica. Only after a written verdict, Ivanovic’s defense can file an appeal.

 

UNHCR: Serbia receives close to 1,500 asylum applications since January (Beta)

The number of asylum seekers in Serbia has grown, and nearly 1,500 migrants have applied for asylum since the beginning of the year, head of the UNHCR Office in Serbia Hans Friedrich Schodder said on March 15. “Serbia is home to some 2,000 migrants at this point,” Schodder was specific, adding that Serbia should not expect a rising influx of refugees from war-affected areas. Speaking at the Belgrade conference titled Safety of Refugees Before and After Border Closures, Schodder said that after the latest set of measures a fear had emerged that trafficking and security risks for migrants might be expanding.

 

Pressure from Croatia blocks screening of the film about the massacre in Dvor na Uni (RTS)

Although tonight we should have re-broadcast the Danish documentary film which deals with crimes committed during the Operation Storm, we are postponing the broadcast. RTS has been asked to do this by producers from Denmark, for the sake of the safety of Croatian team that participated in the making of the film, RTS said in a statement last night. Twenty-one years have gone by without an answer about the crime in Dvor na Uni, and last night in Serbia went without another reminder of it. Nine disabled and elderly people were executed during the massacre, eight Serbs and a Croat. “Due to the current situation in Croatia, it is not convenient to show the film, because it could lead to an escalation of the situation while we are trying to solve it,” said RTS, and added: “It would be very dangerous for a part of the Croatian team. The accusations against the film are unjustified, but until it reaches the Croatian audience, it is best to wait.” Croatians believe that the film is “directed against them” and “tendentious and superficial”. They also dispute the participation of General Mile Novakovic, the consulting of Savo Strbac, as well as the fact one tenth of its financing came from the Croatian Audio-Visual Center. “Some people emerged who have tried to find what's national in a film that is anational, so they declared it to be anti-Croatian propaganda made in Serbia. All that without checking, without a healthy basis,” said RTS journalist Vladimir Banic.  Due to the bombing, on the first day of Croatia’s Operation Storm, August 4, 1995, residents from a nursery home and patients from a psychiatric ward were evacuated from Petrinja to Dvor na Uni. They were transferred to a school surrounded by UN peacekeepers, UNPROFOR. It was considered to be the safest place. The film primarily deals with the responsibility of a Danish battalion that could have prevented the crime. The Danes justified the fact they did not react by asserting they had no mandate to act. The film also mentions that on the day of the killings, August 8, there was “another army” in this town except the Serb one - but does not state who killed the civilians. “We do not know who they were, nor does the film show who they were, the film only shows footage of the Croatian army being in the vicinity that day. It could have been done by Serbs or by Croats because they both were there. Why would Serbs kill Serbs?” asked Savo Strbac from the Documentation and Information Center Veritas. Croats deny that they were in Dvor and attribute the crime to Serbs. However, the recordings made by Danish soldiers and the official note of their commander show that Croatian soldiers were “only 50 meters away from the crime scene” during the massacre.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

No one can be blamed that the consensus wasn’t reached (Novo vrijeme)

After the meeting, the Minister of Civil Affairs and coordinator of the Council of Ministers for the census, Adil Osmanovic said that there is no possibility for the census to fail. He stated that the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina should in accordance with the law get the job finally done. Director of the Agency for Statistics, Velimir Jukic hopes that, with the support of higher authorities, particularly the Council of Ministers, the results should be announced by the set deadline (1st of July this year). The director of the Federation Office of Statistics Emir Kremic said, among other things, that no one can be blamed that the consensus wasn’t reached. However, Radmila Cickovic, the director of the Statistical Office of Republika Srpska (RS), expressed regrets that no agreement was reached. She believes that within a reasonable period of time consensus can and should be reached, and that the question 40. from the census, concerning the place of work and education must be included in data processing.

 

Dodik to ask that the official population census results for RS be published (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik said that if the B&H population census results are not published by the legally stipulated deadline, he will ask that official population census results for RS be published. “The fact is that two years after the population census, results have not been published and someone is accountable for this. In the coming period, we will ask that official results of the RS population census be published. This is what interests us and we don’t care what is at the B&H level,” Dodik said.

 

Bosniak politicians are leading country to disaster (Srna)

The Chairman of the SNSD Caucus in the B&H House of Representatives, Stasa Kosarac, most vehemently condemned the political obstruction of publication of results of the B&H population census, warning that the leading Bosniak politicians, who stand behind these efforts, are still dragging the country to the past and disaster. He warned that the Bosniak political leaders, primarily Bakir Izetbegovic, are persistently refusing to give up the SDA’s wartime goals, in which foundation is the creation of a unitary B&H and the outvoting of the other two constituent peoples. “We recognize such policy both in the actions of the new B&H Council of Ministers and in classical political obstructions of the implementation of the law on the population census and publication of results of the 2013 population census in keeping with the law,” Kosarac told Srna commenting on yesterday’s failure of representatives of the Statistics Offices to reach agreement in connection with the methods of processing data and publishing the results of the population census by the legally stipulated deadline, that is, July 1. He rejected the possibility that the B&H Presidency and the Council of Ministers bring a decision on publishing the population census results. “It is clear that Bosniak politicians want to again bypass Republika Srpska (RS) institutions and make use of political weakness of representatives of the so-called Alliance for Change in institutions at the B&H level. This must not happen since the law on population census is clear and it only should be applied,” Kosarac said.

 

Examples from Prijedor show that RS is right (Srna)

The president of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS), Marko Pavic, said that examples from Prijedor show that the RS representatives are right when it comes to the conflict of the Entities in connection with the question as to which persons should be registered and recognized as permanent residents of B&H. Pavic, who is the mayor of Prijedor, said that everyone in Prijedor knows that there are no more residents in Kozarac, Kamicani and Hrnici now than there were in 1991, but that the 2013 population census shows differently. He said that the exact number of residents is important because of the economic policy measures which must be implemented. Pavic says that the reform agenda is the issue No.1 in B&H and not the results of the population census, but that the agenda cannot be adopted before the results of the population census are published. “Ethnic affiliation cannot be a foundation for employment or for anything else. Nothing will be determined on the basis of ethnic affiliation,” Pavic said.

 

Dodik promised to support the opening of the Ferhadija Mosque? (Klix)

The RS President Milorad Dodik promised material and any other kind of assistance in organizing the opening of the Ferhat-pasa’s Mosque in Banja Luka. During the meeting with the Mufti of Banja Luka Osman Kozlic, Dodik expressed hope that this religious and cultural event will be organized and held without any problems, stated the Cabinet of the RS President. Reconstructed Ferhat-pasa’s Mosque will be opened on May 7.

 

Izetbegovic sent a telegram of condolences to Erdogan (Faktor.ba)

On the occasion of the terrorist attack that took place in Ankara, a member of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic sent a telegram of condolences to the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

Tuzla Canton to host an important NATO drill (Klix)

The Tuzla Canton will host the international NATO drill of civil protection in elimination of consequences of catastrophe in this area. The drill is to be held in late summer or in autumn 2017, it was agreed yesterday at the meeting of the Prime Minister of the Tuzla Canton Bego Gutic with representatives of the B&H Ministry of Security. According to the plan, the drill is to be executed in this canton in 2017 and a part of the drill will be organized at the territory of the City of Bijeljina, in the RS. “Aim of the drill is to check the capacity of countries for elimination of consequences of catastrophes and mutual help, and it is being organized in the format of allies and partners. We expect the drill to gather 700-750 participants from 61 countries,” said the head of department in the Sector for protection and rescue in the Ministry of Security of B&H and permanent representative of B&H to NATO, Samir Huseinbasic. Total value of the drill amounts to 1.5 million BAM. Fifty percent will be financed by NATO, 40 percent by the state of B&H, and 10 percent by the Tuzla Canton. Prime Minister of the Tuzla Canton Bego Gutic said that the Government of the Tuzla Canton will put all its resources at disposal in order to be a worthy host. “Given the main goal of this drill, our task is to prove to the representatives of NATO and the entire Europe that we are capacitated and ready to ensure personal safety and safety of capital in B&H,” Gutic said. According to preliminary plans, the drill should last for two days, the main events would be a flood and stronger earthquake, and incidents would be a collapse of facilities, RHB, traffic accidents on land/water, and the like.

 

Macedonia sends refugees back to Greece (RTCG)

Macedonia sent back hundreds of refugees to Greece on Tuesday, a day after they bypassed a border fence in a mass push to continue their journey north to Europe's prosperous heartland — a move Greece blamed on “criminal misinformation” possibly spread by volunteers working with them. Interior Ministry spokesman Toni Angelovski said the migrants "have been returned to Greece." About 1,500 people, frustrated at being stuck for weeks in a waterlogged tent city outside the closed crossing of Idomeni, pushed their way into Macedonia on Monday through an unguarded section of the border. They walked about five kilometres and forded a swollen stream near the Greek village of Hamilo. A Macedonian official said 700 migrants who had been detained overnight were deported to Greece through the same location they entered. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press, also said about 50 journalists and volunteers detained with the migrants, were released after paying fines of 250 euros for illegally entering Macedonia.

 

Peaceful and mass rally in Macedonia held to support Constitutional Court (MIA)

With banners saying ‘We are a country, not a protectorate’, ‘Hands off the judiciary’, ‘The judiciary belongs to the judges’, more than 6,000 people on Tuesday night gathered outside the Constitutional Court, with the intention to express their support for the constitutional judges who will face a Wednesday's decision for changes in the law of pardon. The amendments should give broader powers to the president for the cases in which he may pardon defendants who are faced with verdicts. The judges, according to the announced information, on Wednesday need to decide on the amendments which need to enable the President to pardon persons who are suspected of election irregularities. At the same time in the capital is held a protest of the movement Ajde, which was joined by the opposition party SDSM. Their protest is directed against the Constitutional Court, against the decision of the judges to consider the proposal to amend the legislation relating to pardon of the president. Their protest began in front of the government building, then continued before the parliament. So far there is no announcement that those who are part of the protesting group will head to the Constitutional Court.

 

Jakimovski: SDSM’s Protest is to overthrow the Constitutional order (TV Nova)

The leader of GROM, Stevco Jakimovski, who heads the peaceful gathering in front of the Constitutional Court, as he said, in defense of the Court, considers that the protest of SDSM for the Constitutional Court is part of a bigger scenario that needs to be conducted in order to postpone the elections scheduled for June 5. “This scenario has long ago been written, the script was people to enter by force in the Constitutional Court, to make a mess here, which practically undermines the constitutional order. At the same time the refugees to enter via the border in Macedonia and a security chaos to occur. That scenario is still ongoing in order to create a situation where Macedonia will have no security and institutional conditions to conduct elections on June 5th. But I am convinced that we will not allow it,” Jakimovski stressed in a statement for TV Nova.

 

Foreign Ministry expresses condolences over death of Macedonian UN volunteer (MIA)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, according to the information received from the Office of UN Volunteers, regrets to inform that Macedonian citizen Anita Andreevska was killed on March 13, 2016 in a terrorist attack that occurred in the tourist city of Grand-Bassam on in Cote d’Ivoire. In the attack, two militants and 14 other civilians also lost their lives. Employees of the Ministry met the family of the deceased and expressed their condolences to the relatives, and assured them that the Ministry will undertake all necessary activities, in accordance with the legal enactments, for transferring the body of the deceased to our country.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Hashim Thaci: Kosovo Has Nothing to Hide (Balkan Insight, by Iva Vukusic, 16 March 2016)

President-elect Hashim Thaci offered an optimistic view of Kosovo’s future during a speech in The Hague, despite impending prosecutions of former KLA guerrillas at the new ‘special court’ in the city.

Thaci painted a rosy picture of today’s Kosovo and its relations with Serbia and the EU during his lecture at the Institute for Global Justice in The Hague on Tuesday. Coming before he takes office in early April, his speech was intended to give a sense of the direction his presidency will take on issues like cooperation with Serbia, EU integration and the new Special Court being set up to try Kosovo Liberation Army members, which is expected to begin operating in The Hague by the end of the year. The so-called ‘Specialist Chambers’ will be located in a building just minutes away from where Thaci delivered his remarks. Thaci offered fulsome support for the new ‘Kosovo court’ as many in The Hague call it, claiming it was “an opportunity” and “advantage” for his newly-independent country. It was, he insisted, “not a punishment”. That is the attitude that other countries in the region should adopt while dealing with their own past, he added. The establishment of the new institution was part of the effort to support the rule of law both in Kosovo and in the wider region, and so Kosovo was committed to full cooperation, he said. Kosovo wants a “transparent court process” because there is “nothing to hide”, he added. He also stressed that Kosovo had showed readiness in the past to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and that all those who had been indicted by the UN war crimes court had surrendered voluntarily. An audience member asked about the challenges of witness protection in Kosovo, something that has been deeply problematic in the past, and Thaci responded elegantly but without a lot of substance. The situation was “not perfect”, but Kosovo was committed to cooperating in order to improve it, he insisted. The president-elect, a former guerrilla commander himself, opened his lecture with his thoughts on his early days in politics and the history of the KLA. Recalling what he said started as a fight against communism and for more freedom, he reminded the audience of the non-violent nature of that struggle in its early days. However, he said, Serbia’s violent repression of the Albanian population resulted in a change of course and a move towards “armed resistance”. This didn’t start because of hatred of the Serbs but, according to Thaçi, as an effort to remove Slobodan Milosevic’s military and police from Kosovo. As soon as Kosovo’s political leaders could sit down with Serbia’s representatives and talk, they did it, often facing serious domestic political pressure, he recalled. A key point that he kept returning to during the lecture was the need for talks and compromise with Serbia and the region’s future as part of the European Union. He wasn’t discouraged by the crises currently facing the EU but framed the contribution that he said Kosovo would make to the block in terms of the fight against Islamic extremism and the management of refugee flows through the Balkans. To anyone listening, Thaci appeared charming and relaxed, a progressive, young Balkan politician trying to mend relations with longtime enemies, consolidate Kosovo’s statehood and look forward towards a future of peace and security. Joining the EU and NATO represent the best way forward for the region, he said, and the focus needed to be on working with Serbia to make the lives of the local population better. It was all about “constructive compromises”. But at the same time, his speech was lacking in serious self-criticism. This was not unusual from a political leader, but what was surprising, in a city where jurisprudence is highly valued, was that Thaci spoke of the “genocide” Serbia committed in Kosovo - an assertion that has not been endorsed by court rulings. Had there been more time to answer questions from the audience, his statement would probably have been challenged. The lecture did however provide an insight into how the future president of Kosovo positions himself to the outside world - and specifically, to officials in Brussels - as he spoke of his studies in history and political science and the inspiration he took from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. He also sought to reassure his audience that Kosovo was a country “for all its citizens” and that its energies must be spent on creating a future for them. “The past is the past,” he said.

 

Serbia's central bank seen keeping key rate on hold: Reuters poll (Reuters, by Aleksandar Vasovic, 15 March 2016)

BELGRADE Serbia's central bank is expected to keep its benchmark rate unchanged this week as a slowdown in reforms before April 24 elections may increase depreciation pressures and further weaken the dinar, a Reuters poll showed. Last month, after four months of keeping it unchanged, the bank cut the rate RRSCBIR=ECI RSDREPO by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent, citing low inflation at home and abroad as well as external pressures. The bank also said it plans to maintain its looser monetary policy because the country's inflation rate remains below its target range of between 2.5 percent and 5.5 percent. Inflation in February stood at 1.5 percent, down from 2.4 percent a month earlier. Of 17 dealers and analysts polled by Reuters ECONALLRS, 12 expected the bank to keep rates on hold when it meets on Thursday. Five saw a 25 basis point cut. In an analysis, UniCredit bank said the central bank might decide to keep rates unchanged as the dinar EURRSD= has trended slightly weaker versus the euro since the rate cut last month. Low inflation and investors seeking to reduce their exposure to emerging markets following the U.S. rate hike and European Central Bank quantitative easing will also weigh on the bank's decision. But snap elections in Serbia scheduled for April 24 may also influence policymakers. "With reforms stalling ahead of the elections ... , a new cut would achieve very little in terms of support for Serbian assets," UniCredit bank said. Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic scheduled snap elections for April 24 as the ruling Serbian Progressive Party sought a fresh mandate to cement its power, proceed with reforms and lead the country towards European Union membership. "A 25 basis point cut to 4 percent may be on the cards if reforms resume after the elections," the UniCredit bank said. Serbia's reforms are seen as needed for reducing the budget deficit, cutting debt and downsizing the bloated public sector, in line with its 1.2 billion euro ($1.33 billion) three-year loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. The central bank has so far sold around 470 million euros this year to bolster the dinar which it keeps in a managed float against the euro.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

 

Karadzic’s Courtroom Drama Will End in Disappointment (BIRN, by Erna Mackic, 16 March 2016)

Next week’s verdict in the war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic will be a judicial landmark but cannot heal the lasting divisions of wartime.

The UN war crimes court’s verdict, which will be delivered on March 24, will be historic.

Seventy-year-old Karadzic will be the highest-ranking political leader accused before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to hear the verdict on his alleged crimes delivered in court. In 1995, the last year of the war, Karadzic was charged with genocide and other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but after the conflict ended, he went on the run.

His assets were frozen and the NATO-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia, SFOR, searched for him for several years, ordering periodic raids, but Karadzic remained hidden. The US offered up to $5 million as a reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest, but still he could not be found. As hopes that he could be apprehended began to fade, Karadzic was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade, where he was hiding in plain sight, posing as a spiritual healer. He had a longer beard and hair and was wearing less formal clothes, but it was definitely him - Europe’s most wanted man, working openly in the Serbian capital under the assumed name Dragan Dabic. In his first court appearance in The Hague, Karadzic was defiant: “I’ve been in worse places,” he told the judge. He announced that he would prove that he had a deal with US diplomat Richard Holbrooke that he would not be prosecuted - but despite the headline-grabbing statement, Karadzic failed to produce the evidence during his marathon trial. More than 500 witnesses - victims, UN peacekeeping troops, international and domestic experts - testified about genocide and other wartime crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina or denied that they happened or that Karadzic was responsible for them. War criminals Stanislav Galic, Milan Martic, Dragomir Milosevic and others testified in Karadzic’s defence, denying the crimes they were convicted of at their own trials. Karadzic himself insisted that the Bosnian Serb leadership was made up of experts, writers, doctors, lawyers and professors. “God forbid that we had a different leadership, who knows what the war would have looked like?” he said. In his final statement before the court in October 2014, he admitted that crimes were committed during what he called the “awful” war, but insisted that he never ordered them. “I am of a clear conscience and a heavy heart, because the war wasn’t what I wanted,” he said.

A courtroom circus?

Some witness testimonies brought back memories of wartime, when Karadzic was in power in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska. Former Bosnian Serb justice minister Momcilo Mandic addressed him as ‘Mr. President’, while the defendant answered by calling Mandic ‘Mr. Minister’. Victims of Bosnian Serb forces’ military campaigns described the trial as a ‘circus’ that glorified Karadzic by allowing his supporters to sing his praises. The testimony of current Bosnian Serb president Milorad Dodik was watched keenly to see how far the Republika Srpska leadership had moved on from Karadzic’s ideals since the end of the war. But Dodik, a defence witness, insisted that Karadzic never took part in war crimes, arguing that the defendant wanted a peaceful resolution to the conflict and for all war crimes to be prosecuted. Asked whether he accepted that massive crimes were committed against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croat civilians during the war, Dodik replied: “It was a civil war. Serbs, Muslims and Croats all had organised military formations. All three sides violated the law of war.” A key issue in the Karadzic verdict promises to be the decision on whether genocide was committed by Bosnian Serb forces under his control in the municipalities of Kljuc, Sanski Most, Prijedor, Vlasenica, Foca, Zvornik and Bratunac in 1992, as well as against Bosniaks from Srebrenica in 1995. This is the most unpredictable part of the verdict, as there have already been final verdicts handed down by the UN court about the other crimes with which Karadzic is charged - the Srebrenica genocide, wartime crimes in Sarajevo and the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats by Bosnian Serb forces in many municipalities across the country. In its attempts to prove that that Karadzic was guilty of waging a campaign of terror against the population of besieged Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, the Hague prosecution called more than 30 former UN peacekeepers to testify. On the other side, Karadzic’s defence also called to the stand former members of international forces in its own attempts to prove that the mortar shells that killed dozens of people at the Sarajevo’s Markale market weren’t fired from Bosnian Serb positions. Karadzic initially announced that he would take the stand and “disprove all the lies of the Tribunal”, but in the end he backed out, claiming that his witnesses had said everything that needed to be heard to confirm his innocence.

Bad food and ‘false remorse’

The former Bosnian Serb leader kept himself busy throughout the trial, filing motion upon motion. He asked the United Nations to look into the number of malign diseases in the Scheveningen detention centre, where Hague Tribunal defendants are held, suggesting that there was something sinister about the number of illnesses among the accused. He also complained about the food, describing it as “frozen and reheated in a microwave oven”. He said it was bad quality, and added it “tasted funny for people from the Balkans”. Karadzic also described the detention centre as more of a “retirement home” which housed “intellectuals”, but said it wasn’t the right environment for “fragile men in the final age of their lives”. In its closing arguments, the Hague prosecution asked for a life sentence for the 70-year-old to ensure justice for the victims of Srebrenica, Sarajevo and all the other places where victims were persecuted during the Bosnian conflict. According to the prosecutors, the terrorising of the capital, the mass executions, the use of UN officials as hostages and the brutality towards victims all had something in common - the role of Radovan Karadzic. His false remorse, the prosecutors said, was salt in the wounds of all the victims now living without their loved ones and trying to deal with the horrors of the past. The protracted saga of Karadzic’s flight from justice, his eventual arrest and his lengthy trial has left many victims with feelings of deep disappointment. They were exasperated that he evaded capture for so long and outraged by the glowing testimonies that his admirers gave him in the courtroom while simultaneously denying the crimes from which they suffered. Most are unsure whether the tribunal will find the courage to rule that genocide was committed in 1992, and are already expecting to be disappointed again. Bosnian Serb politicians and victims’ groups meanwhile have long been disappointed by what they see as unfair, politically-motivated and anti-Serb prosecutions by the Hague court. Whatever the ruling in the Karadzic case, this view is unlikely to change. So while the verdict that will be announced by South Korean judge O-Gon Kwon in The Hague next week will certainly be historic, it is almost certain to be met by yet more disappointment.

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ.  The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.