Former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, has asked for permission to appeal the decision of there being sufficient evidence to determine his guilt for taking UN peacekeepers hostage in 1995.
In June Karadzic had attempted to have 11 charges against him dismissed. The Hague Tribunal’s Trial Chamber ruled that the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence for ten out of the 11 counts of the indictment, including the one referring to taking international soldiers hostages.
In his motion Karadzic argues that he should be allowed to appeal against the Trial Chamber’s decision, on the grounds that the UN peacekeepers were combatants.
“The indictee wants to deny the allegation that, by being detained, combatants become members of a protected group. It is illogical that a perpetrator is allowed to kill a combatant, while threatening him with death or detaining him is considered a crime,” Karadzic said in his motion.
Karadzic pointed out that a quick decision by the Appellate Chamber concerning his motion would “contribute to better efficiency of the proceedings”.
Previously, the Trial Chamber had also ruled that the prosecutors had failed to provide sufficient evidence relating to the first count of the indictment, which charged Karadzic with genocide in seven Bosnian municipalities in 1992.
On July 3, the prosecution has made a request to be allowed to appeal this decision.
Karadzic, former president of Republika Srpska and the supreme commander of its army, denies charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
His trial started in October 2009, and the prosecution finished presenting its evidence last month. The defence is due to begin presenting its evidence in October.
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.