UN JUDGES APPROVE TWO GENOCIDE CHARGES AGAINST RADOVAN KARADZIC

The U.N.-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia approved most of an amended indictment against Radovan Karadžić.

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 Bosniak, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina committed during the 1992-1995 war.

In the Amended Indictment, Karadžić is charged with two counts of genocide instead of initial one. The first count refers to the crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1992 and the second to the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica. Two other counts have been dropped from the initial indictment, those being the charges of complicity in genocide and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. With the Amended Indictment, Karadžić is charged with criminal conduct in relation to 27 municipalities instead of the initial 41.

In 2000, Radovan Karadžić was ordered by a U.S. jury to pay $4.5 billion in damages for atrocities committed by his soldiers. The only problem - he was on the run. The U.S. Government placed $5 million bounty on his head. He was arrested in July 2008 in Belgrade, while he was freely practicing alternative medicine under the alias "Dragan David Dabic."

Radovan Karadžić made his genocidal intentions public long before he executed them. As Florence Hartmann, former spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, pointed out in Dani interview,

"[Karadžić's] war plan included the destruction of the Bosnian Muslims within a limited geographical area, i.e. within part of the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the aim of joining that part to Serbia. Milošević was the initiator and the moving force behind the execution of the plan to secure for the Serbs certain areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was Serbia’s political leader and was considered and admired by them as the leader and protector of all ethnic Serbs living on the former Yugoslav territory. He utilised Karadžić to formulate and articulate their joint intentions. In a conversation between Milošević, Karadžić and Babić conducted in July 1991, Karadžić said that ‘the Muslims should be expelled from the valleys in order to join together all Serb territories in Bosnia-Herzegovina’. Milošević and his collaborators made their intentions clear even before the start of the Yugoslav crisis. It was obvious that the inclusion of territories of other republics, and changes to the established borders, carried with them a high risk or likelihood of violence. They needed to use violence in order to achieve their aim, especially in an ethnically mixed country such as Yugoslavia. In other words, everything was known and predictable, but nothing was done to prevent it."

On October 12th 1991, Radovan KaradziKaradžić issued a warning: "They [Muslims] will disappear, these people will disappear from the face of the earth"

A mere day later, on 13 October 1991, Karadžić, talking to Momčilo Mandić, said: "Within a few days there will be no Sarajevo, and there will be over 500,000 dead; within a month the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina will be destroyed!"

Again, on 15 October 1991, Karadžić foresees the extermination of the Muslims in the event of war. Talking to Miodrag Davidović and his own brother Luka, Karadžić said: "In the first instance, none of their leaders will remain alive, they will be killed within 3 or 4 hours. They will have no chance of surviving."

Learn more about Bosnian Genocide:
1. Remembering Concentration Camps in Bosnia (PHOTOS)
2. Nikola Jorgic: The First Bosnian Genocide Judgment
3. Bosnian Genocide Judgment Upheld

Miroslav Deronjić (quick bio), a former Bosnian Serb politician who has pleaded guilty to war crimes, said he met Radovan Karadzić in early July 1995, shortly before Serbs attacked the United Nations-declared ''safe area'' of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. ''At one moment, he said the following sentence to me, "Miroslav, all of them need to be killed -- whatever you can lay your hands on,'' Mr.Deronjić told a pre-appeal hearing for a former Bosnian Serb general, Radislav Krstić - who was found guilty of Srebrenica Genocide.

At the end of the war, Karadzić realized that his attempts to make "Muslims of Bosnia" disappear failed, so he focused on Srebrenica - lightly protected United Nations' enclave in eastern Bosnia. In March 1995, Radovan Karadzić, then President of Republika Srpska, issued a directive to the Bosnian Serb Army - known as “Directive 7” - which specified that the Bosnian Serb Army was to:

Complete the physical separation of Srebrenica from Žepa as soon as possible, preventing even communication between individuals in the two enclaves. By planned and well-thought out combat operations, create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica.

The end result (Srebrenica): In a matter of days, at least 8,372 victims Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men, children, and elderly were summarily executed, dumped into mass graves, then dug out and moved to secondary mass graves to hide the crime. Other bodies were thrown into the Drina river and they will likely never be recovered. Meanwhile, approximately 25,000 Bosniaks were forcibly expelled from Srebrenica in a U.N.-assisted ethnic cleansing.


Learn more about Srebrenica Genocide:
-- Events preceding Srebrenica genocide:
---- 1. Serbs around Srebrenica attack and burn Muslim women, children, and elderly alive
---- 2. Serbs around Srebrenica slaughter 62 Bosniak children, injure 152
---- 3. This Muslim child was blinded by a grenade fired from militarized Serb-held villages around Srebrenica
---- 4. Under Siege: Bosnian Muslims lived under constant terrorist threat from Serbs around Srebrenica
---- 5. Research more here, or use custom search box (located on top left-hand side) to search for specific information...

-- Results of Srebrenica genocide:
---- 1. 8,372 Victims of Srebrenica Genocide
---- 2. DNA Analysis: 8,000 Victims, not Less
---- 3. Requested: Gassing of Refugees by Chemical Weapons
---- 4. Ethnic Cleansing of Srebrenica women disguised as 'humanitarian act'
---- 5. Preliminary List of Child Victims of Srebrenica Genocide
---- 6. Srebrenica Children Shot in Head
---- 7. Research more here, or use custom search box (located on top left-hand side) to search for specific information...