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August 25, 2008

Timeline: Radovan Karadžić Case

May 1992: Karadžić is elected president of the three-person presidency of the Republika Srpska, or Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a self-declared union of majority Serbian territories in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Republika Srpska was never recognized by the international community.

Dec. 1992: Karadžić becomes sole president of the Republika Srpska and supreme commander of the armed forces, directing a military campaign to drive Bosnian Muslims from the area.

July 1995: Bosnian Serb forces kill nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and children in and around the Srebrenica enclave.

July 1995: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague issues its first indictment against Karadžić and his army chief of staff Ratko Mladic on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity related to the Bosnian Serb forces' 44-month siege of Sarajevo from 1992-1995, which led to the deaths of more than 10,000 civilians.

Nov. 1995: ICTY issues a second indictment against Karadžić and Mladic on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the Srebrenica massacre.

July 1996: ICTY issues an international arrest warrant for Karadžić. Karadžić steps down as president of Republika Srpska, after which he disappears from public view.

May 2000: The ICTY prosecutor files an amended indictment alleging that Karadžić acted either individually or in concert with Momčilo Krajišnik and Biljana Plavšić, the other former members of the three-person presidency of Respublika Srpska. The ICTY had since convicted both Krajisnik and Plavsic of war crimes.

2002 - 2004: NATO-led troops carry out a series of raids in search of Karadžić, but fail to find him.

July 21, 2008: Serbian authorities announce the arrest of Karadžić in Belgrade, 13 years after ICTY issued the original warrant.

July 30, 2008: Karadžić is extradited to the Hague to face trial at the ICTY.

July 31, 2008: Karadžić makes his first appearance before ICTY Judge Alphons Orie and says he will represent himself without the aid of a lawyer, but does not enter a plea.

Aug 1, 2008: Karadžić files his first legal brief to the court, claiming media bias will prevent him from obtaining a fair trial.

LEGAL BACKGROUND
The first indictments against Karadžić were filed by Chief Prosecutor Richard Goldstone in 1995, and were then merged to one indictment by Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte in 2000. (Case No IT-95-5/18-I).

The amended indictment charges Radovan Karadžić with:

• one count of genocide (Articles 4(3)(a), and 7(1) and 7(3) of the ICTY Statute);
• one count of complicity in genocide (Article 4(3)(e), and 7(1) and 7(3) of the ICTY Statute);
• five counts of crimes against humanity (punishable under Articles 5, and 7(1) and 7(3) of the ICTY Statute);
• four counts of war crimes (punishable under Articles 2(a), and 3, and 7(1) and 7(3) of the ICTY Statute); and
• one count of a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (punishable under Articles 2(a), and 3, and 7(1) and 7(3) of the ICTY Statute).

Radovan Karadžić is alleged to have participated, either through his acts or omissions, in:

• acts of persecution and deportation that occurred up to Nov. 30, 1995, in particular from the municipalities of Bijeljina, Banja Luka and the UN designated "safe area" of Srebrenica;
• a forty-four month attack of Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serb forces, which involved inflicting terror on persons living within Sarajevo (between April 1, 1992 and November 30, 1995);
• the killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men, who had been captured in several different locations in and around the Srebrenica enclave, by the Bosnian Serb forces (between July 11-18, 1995);
• conduct which resulted by November 30, 1995, in the death or forced departure of a significant portion of the Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb groups from municipalities like for instance Brcko, Sarajevo, Zvornik, and the Srebrenica enclave.

 

For full text of indictment click here.