'I Am To Blame,' Srebrenica Defendant Tells Court

For the first time, Radovan Karadzic was directly implicated in the massacre of 7,000 to 10,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica by a witness in the sentencing hearing of Momir Nikolic. Miroslav Deronjic, a Karadzic intimate and civilian head of the Bratunac municipality, testified that he met with the President of Republika Srpska on July 8 or 9, 1995 at Pale. They discussed the planned operation against the UN Safe Haven of Srebrenica. According to Deronjic, Karadzic told him, 'These people must be killed.' He then mentioned the Western Slavonia principle, referring to the Croatian Army's expulsion of almost the entire Serb population in that area, where a large number of soldiers and civilians were killed.

Prosecutor Peter McCloskey followed up with a direct question: 'Did Karadzic actually say 'Miroslav, they should be killed,' referring to potential Muslim prisoners?' To which Deronjic replied, 'Yes, this is something I have told the prosecutors. 'All those down there should be killed. Kill all those you manage to [capture].''

While evidence in other Tribunal proceedings ties Ratko Mladic, head of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) at the time, to the Srebrenica massacres, this is the first in-court testimony linking Karadzic to them. Mr. Deronjic has pled guilty in another case to the forcible removal of the Bosnian Muslim population from the village of Glogova, the destruction of many homes and the mosque and the murder of 65 civilians in the process. His plea agreement with the Prosecutor obligates him to cooperate with the OTP in its continuing investigations and cases. He is expected to testify in the Milosevic case, among others.

The above illustrates an important consequence of guilty pleas. After a 98 day trial in the Krstic case, a significant part of the evidence on which the conviction was based remained circumstantial. There was clear evidence about the systematic killings of Bosnian Muslim prisoners, but less direct evidence about the planning that lay behind it. When the Prosecution brought the indictment against General Krstic, it was unable to establish that a plan for mass murder had been made before July 11, 1995, after the fall of Srebrenica. Mr. Deronjic, however, told this Court that Karadzic mentioned the intention to kill all the Muslims to him as early as July 8 or 9.

With the guilty pleas of Deronjic, Nikolic and Dragan Obrenovic, the Prosecution has gained access to significantly more direct evidence about the planning of the Srebrenica massacres and their coverup, as well as other crimes committed during the Bosnian war. For whatever reason the accused decided to plead guilty, their inside knowledge is invaluable to gaining a more complete picture of what happened, as well as establishing guilt in court.