Karadzic Keen to Talk to Dutch Media

Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic has written to the Hague tribunal asking it to hurry up with procedures that will enable him to give an interview to a Dutch magazine.



The court ruled three weeks ago, on February 12, that Karadzic – who is awaiting trial for genocide – could give an interview to the Revu magazine from his prison cell.



However, according to the accused, the court’s registry – which oversees procedures at the Scheveningen detention facility in the north of The Hague – has yet to react to the ruling.



“The registry has failed to facilitate any contact between me and the journalist,” wrote Karadzic in a letter, dated March 2.



“Any further delay will result in the filing of another motion with the vice-president [of the court].”



While the court’s registry rejected the request for a face-to-face meeting between Karadzic and Revu journalist Zvezdana Vukojevic on security grounds, the court’s vice-president Judge O’Gon Kwon overruled this, deciding that Karadzic could conduct an interview “remotely via written correspondence, telephone calls, or whatever other means the registrar deems appropriate”.



According to the ruling, all communication between the defendant and the journalist will be monitored by the court.



The court’s spokeswoman, Nerma Jelacic, told IWPR that the registry is currently deciding the best way for the interview to be arranged.



“The registry is considering [the decision’s] details and the manner in which the interview should be conducted,” said Jelacic. “Once that is specified, the parties will be informed.”



Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995.



The charges against him include responsibility for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide when nearly 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were massacred, as well as the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, which resulted in approximately 12,000 civilian deaths.



The interview will be the first to be given by a war crimes suspect on trial at the Hague tribunal. The court’s rules governing prison procedures forbid detainees from contacting the media without the registry’s approval.



Karadzic has said he wants to speak on the record about a deal he allegedly made in 1996 with a former United States envoy, Richard Holbrooke, who he claims promised him immunity from prosecution in The Hague in return for stepping down from politics. Holbrooke has denied making the agreement.



While Karadzic has repeatedly claimed that the alleged agreement makes him exempt from proceedings at the court, judges have ruled that even if such a deal was made, it would have no bearing on the trial.



“[It is] well established that any immunity agreement in respect of an accused indicted for genocide, war crimes and/or crimes against humanity before an international tribunal would be invalid under international law,” judges ruled on December 17, 2008.



Karadzic is currently appealing the decision.



Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.