Radovan Karadić is guilty of and responsible for the committed genocide against the Bosniaks at the territory of Prijedor, Srebrenica, Ključ, Sanski Most, Zvornik, Bratunac, Vlasenica and Foča, as well as for the crimes against humanity and war crimes at the territory of other occupied municipalities, and that is the lightest verdict that can be pronounced for him on March 24; stated the representative of the Institute for the Investigation of Crimes against Humanity and International Law at the University of Sarajevo, Zilha Mastalić-Košuta, prior to the pronouncement of the verdict to Karadžić.
Furthermore, according to the analyses performed in the Institute, first of all Karadžić, in cooperation with others, planned, encouraged, ordered, assisted, supported and committed the crime of genocide against the Bosniaks and participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of killing the Bosniaks and the Bosnian Croats.
“There is enough evidence that the crime of genocide has been committed in all occupied areas, besieged cities and UN safe zones, especially in Prijedor, Sanski Most, Ključ, Bijeljina, Zvornik, Brčko, Bratunac, Vlasenica, Višegrad, Foča, Rogatica, the besieged Sarajevo and other places,” Mastalić-Košuta said.
The Institute expects that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will properly qualify the committed crimes of genocide and other crimes against humanity and international law, and that the verdict will be based on the facts and legal qualification.
Mastalić-Košuta explains that the indictment against Karadžić was reduced from 32 to 11, and then to eight municipalities although, as she added, all available, valid and reliable documentation confirms and proves that the genocide has been committed in all occupied municipalities, the cities under siege and safe zones.
“In this way, many crimes have been neglected and ‘pushed under the carpet’, probably in order to speed up the procedure, given the common knowledge that standards for proving a crime to be a genocide have been set very high,” Mastalić-Košuta stated.
In case Karadžić is sentenced, Mastalić-Košuta believes that the process of reconciliation and the calming of political relations in the region will last for a long time.
(Source: klix.ba)
