Prosecution Appeals Karadzic’s Genocide Acquittal

In the appeal Serge Brammertz, the Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor, said that several legal and factual mistakes were made when clearing Karadzic of charges for genocide in seven Bosnian municipalities in 1992 and that those mistakes represent a “miscarriage of justice”. He asked for all the charges to be reinstated.

In its appeal, the prosecution said that the Trial Chamber wrongly applied legal standards and the Hague Tribunal practices.  The prosecution argues that the murders of Bosniaks and Croats in Bratunac, Foca, Kljuc, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlasenica and Zvornik in 1992 reached the level that shows that a significant part of a group was destined for destruction.  

In the opinion of the Hague prosecutors, the Trial Chamber failed to apply the elements of a joint criminal enterprise in relation to the charges for genocide in 1992.

As stated in the appeal, the Trial Chamber did not assess whether Karadzic and other members of the joint criminal enterprise had genocidal intention.  

“The Trial Chamber made a mistake when applying the law and failed to assess whether the evidence, including the indictee’s threats of disappearance and elimination of Bosniaks prior to the war and in 1992, was sufficient to convince a reasonable trial chamber of existence of genocidal intention on the part of the indictee,” the appeal says.  

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 but it acquitted him on charges for genocide in seven municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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.