Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic wanted to be in total control and did not respect the authorities led by Karadzic, the Hague Tribunal was told.
Mladic “wanted to dominate” Bosnian Serb political leaders, the Tribunal was told by Dragomir Milosevic, former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Bosnian Serb Army and a convicted war criminal.
“Mladic did not want to have any superiors above him. He did not respect the civilian authorities,” Milosevic said as he testified in Karadzic’s defence this week.
He said that Karadzic tried to replace Mladic in August 1995, but all the other generals apart from him took Mladic’s side.
“I never told Mladic: ‘General, God has sent you to command and reign’… I respected his orders, but I did not show the enthusiasm he expected,” he said.
When asked whether it meant that Mladic “did not listen” to Karadzic, Milosevic said that he “cannot say that”.
Mladic is also currently on trial for crimes committed during the Bosnian war.
The Tribunal sentenced Milosevic to 29 years in prison in 2009 for terrorising civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. He was brought to testify from Estonia, where he is serving his sentence.
The indictment against Karadzic, former Bosnian Serb leader and supreme commander, charges him with crimes against civilians in Sarajevo, genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats and taking UN soldiers hostage.
While being examined by Karadzic, Milosevic also denied that his unit obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid and electricity, water and gas supplies to Sarajevo citizens.
He added that snipers from his unit never opened fire on civilians in the city.
While confirming that Bosnian Serb forces had trained snipers, Milosevic said that their task was exclusively to act against enemy sharpshooters.
Milosevic accused the Bosnian Army of using deception in order to blame his forces for civilian victims, saying that its soldiers opened fire from civilian buildings such as hospitals in the city.
Karadzic’s trial will resume on February 3.
To the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, was a true sensation, and one to be exploited day after day.
In July 1995 Srebrenica was shelled and occupied by the Army of Republic of Srpska,VRS, despite being declared a protected area by the United Nations. More than 7,000 people were killed, the victims of genocide.