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The Hague, 30 July 2008
AM/MOW/1277e
Radovan Karadžić in Tribunal’s Custody
Radovan Karadžić was today transferred in to the Tribunal’s custody, after having been at large for more than 13 years. Karadžić, who was arrested in Serbia on 21 July 2008, has been admitted in the UN Detention Unit in the Hague.
Karadžić, former President of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and head of the Serbian Democratic Party and Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), is charged by the Prosecution with genocide and a multitude of crimes against Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war.
The indictment alleges that Karadžić committed genocide when forces under his command killed non-Serbs during and after attacks on towns in more than a dozen Bosnian municipalities. After these attacks, Bosnian Serb forces rounded up tens of thousands of non-Serbs and transferred them to more than 20 detention facilities. The indictment alleges that forces under Karadžić’s command tortured, mistreated, sexually assaulted and killed non-Serbs in these camps.
The indictment also charges Karadžić with responsibility for a protracted campaign of shelling and sniping of civilian areas of Sarajevo, killing and wounding thousands of civilians, including children and the elderly.
According to the indictment, these and other crimes with which Karadžić is charged were part of a campaign to secure control of those areas which had been proclaimed part of Republika Srpska. Karadžić and others took measures to encourage non-Serbs to leave those areas, to deport those who were reluctant to leave and to kill others in order to significantly reduce the non-Serb populations.
Other co-perpetrators in this campaign who the Tribunal indicted are Republika Srpska Assembly President Momčilo Krajišnik, who is on trial, and Presidency member Biljana Plavšić, who pleaded guilty.
Karadžić also stands accused of genocide for the murder of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica in 1995. The indictment states that on 8 March 1995, Karadžić instructed Bosnian Serb forces under his command to create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival of life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica, amongst other places.
A date and time for Karadžić’s initial appearance in court will be announced in due course.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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