Witness Recalls Meeting with Karadzic

Slavica Ristic, a businesswoman from the United States, said that she was in  Karadzic’s office on July 13,1995, while he was on the phone to his general, Ratko Mladic.

 Karadzic turned the speaker on and although the line was bad, Ristic said she heard one of the men say “Srebrenica was finished”.

While being questioned by Karadzic, Ristic answered she “did not know who said that”, but that she understood it to mean that military operations had been completed.  

When asked “if there was any discussion about the prisoners of war or possible executions”, the witness replied: “Not in my presence”.

The witness recalled that Karadzic received her again at his office on July 14, 1995. Ristic said that he “carefully followed coverage by television stations of the events in Srebrenica”.

Karadzic, then the President of Republika Srpska and the Supreme Commander of its army, is charged with the genocide of more than 7,000 Bosniaks and the persecution of tens of thousands of women and children following the occupation of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.

He is also charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, terror against civilians in Sarajevo,  and with taking UNPROFOR soldiers hostage in the period between 1992 and 1995.

Ratko Mladic, a former commander of the Republika Srpska Army, is awaiting his turn in front of the Hague tribunal.

During this week, the court also heard the testimony of two protected prosecution witnesses, who talked about the methods used by the Bosnian army to intercept conversations between the political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, including Karadzic.

Witnesses KDZ-245 and KDZ-126, both former members of a communication interception unit with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, were called to verify the transcripts of intercepted conversations between the Republika Srpska Army and their political leaders during and after the attack on Srebrenica in July 1995.

The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Tuesday, March 20.