Bosnian NGO Official Suggests Use of “Confidential” Documents in Karadzic Trial

Text of report by Bosnian national public broadcaster BHTV1, on 28 July

[Presenter Adela Topalovic] No information has been forthcoming as yet from the Hague tribunal on possible additions and amendments to the indictment against Radovan Karadzic. Meanwhile, many are speculating on which evidence might be used during the trial.

[Reporter Milica Vucetic] Following the news on the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, speculations have emerged regarding new details of his indictment. While the Hague prosecution team are discussing whether the 2000 indictment should be amended, many legal experts and researchers believe that during the Karadzic trial numerous documents that have been under a veil of secrecy all these years should be used, including the transcripts from meetings of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Supreme Defence Council, marked as confidential during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.

[Mirsad Tokaca, head of Sarajevo-based war crimes research documentation centre] I believe that the tribunal must re-consider its decision, that is the prosecution above all must ask for those documents to be declassified and for them to be used in their entirety, not only because of Karadzic but because of the public as well. This in order for us to learn what is hiding behind those lines concealed with a felt-tip pen.

[Reporter] In April 2008, 54 intellectuals from around the world sent a petition to the presidents of the International Court of Justice and the Hague tribunal asking for the documents to be released. One of the signatories does not contest that they would be very important during the Karadzic trial, adding however that this time it is difficult to assess what will be relevant to whom.

[Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, head of Serbian committee of human rights lawyers] There is a possibility that the tribunal will consider this to be irrelevant, but there is also a possibility – admittedly, very much theoretical – that, for instance, Radovan Karadzic himself will demand for the documents to be made public as it may suit him for the political background, for those who stood behind the project that he led, to be seen.

[Olga Karvan, Hague tribunal spokesperson] Under the tribunal rules on procedure and evidence, the state can ask for those documents not to be made public. But as I have already stressed, regardless of who makes what demands regarding the transparency of documents, it is the judges who decide on this.

[Reporter] And the tribunal has sent the old message: judges cannot initiate proceedings. While The Hague is waiting for Radovan Karadzic, some legal experts from the region predict that after Karadzic’s testimony nothing will be the same.

Originally published by BHTV1, Sarajevo, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1700 28 Jul 08.

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