The Trial Chamber in the case of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has ended a five-day site visit to several locations in Sarajevo and its surroundings.

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By Nidzara Ahmetasevic in Sarajevo

The visit was made following a request by Karadzic. Members of his defence team were with three judges at the sites. Peter Robinson, a member of the Karadzic team told RNW the Chamber visited places “where the alleged sniping and shelling incidents occurred”.

“We hope that for some of the places where Dr. Karadzic claims that it was impossible for the Serbs to have been responsible for the crimes, the Trial Chamber will see for themselves that there was no line of sight or easily reachable target from the Serb positions. Dr. Kardazic considers it important to the case and is very grateful that the Trial Chamber was willing to undertake this visit,” Robinson said.

Bosnian war

During the Bosnian war, Karadzic was President of Republika Srpska, head of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS). He is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.

He was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade, after 13 years in hiding, and the trails commenced in October 2009. Karadzic is charged with responsibility for an extended campaign of shelling and sniping of civilian areas of Sarajevo during the 44-month siege. It is estimated that about 10,000 people were killed, including about 1,000 children. People were targeted while queueing in bread lines, collecting water, attending funerals, shopping in markets, riding on trams, in their homes, gathering wood, or simply walking the streets of the city under the siege.

Prosecution claims

The prosecution claims attacks were often unrelated to any military actions, designed in a way to keep people in the city in a constant state of terror.

Judges visited not only places where incidents happened, but also places from where shots were fired, hills around Sarajevo and Grbavica, a part of the city that was occupied by VRS forces during the siege.

The site visit is standard procedure in the ICTY. "In general site visits are conducted by a Trial Chamber in order to get a proper impression — which cannot be gained from photographs and videos - of a geographic area in which the crimes are alleged to have been committed,” Nerma Jelacic, the ICTY spokeperson said. “A first-hand observation of the geography, topography and the physical relationships between the locations referred to in the evidence and described in the indictment usually assists a Trial Chamber in their work.”

The Karadzic trial is currently adjourned, after the Prosecution submitted additional documentation. The next hearing is scheduled for 31 May.

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Earlier IJT editions:

• International Justice Tribune, 128 (9 May 2011)
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