Former president of Republika Srpska (RS) Radovan Karadzic asked the Court Mechanism in The Hague to release him on provisional release in RS.
He asked to be released until decision on the appeal that he will put on the first instance verdict.
Appeals Chamber of the Mechanism, chaired by the American judge Theodor Meron, will decide about Karadzic’s request. There is no deadline for the decision.
The Hague Tribunal convicted Karadzic (70) to 40 years in prison on the 24th of March, finding him guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Muslim and Croat population throughout BiH, terrorizing civilians in Sarajevo with long-lasting shelling and taking members of UNPROFOR for hostage, in the period from 1992 to 1995.
He recalled that, although he never voluntarily surrendered, after his arrest in July 2008 “I fully cooperated with the Tribunal” and that “no witness reported any cases of harassment in my process.”
“Although I am a poet, writer and intellectual in the Serbian society, I am deprived of satisfying my cultural needs while I am detained. If I was released, my family could see me and I would have my cultural life again,” he said.
Karadzic, in the end, emphasized that he “firmly maintains the attitude that he is innocent” and that, therefore, “he is very motivated to correct the injustice that was done with a first instance verdict to me and the truth.”
(Source: vijesti.ba)
