Daily Times

Lawyers for former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic argued Monday that appeals judges should overturn his multiple convictions and 40-year sentence for masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the Bosnian war because of a string of legal and procedural errors, and that he should be given a new trial.

Karadzic, 72, is one of the most senior leaders convicted at a United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He was found guilty in March 2016 of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in crimes including the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys, Europe’s worst massacre since World War II. He insists he is innocent.

Now, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, a court set up to deal with cases arising from international tribunals that have now closed, is hearing appeals both by Karadzic and by prosecutors, who argue that he should have been convicted on two counts of genocide and given a life sentence.

Defense lawyers said that trial judges denied Karadzic the right to testify in his own defense in the manner he wanted – by giving a narrative account of his version of events. Attorney Kate Gibson said that denial was a procedural error “so fundamental, so manifest that alone it warrants a retrial.”

Gibson added that there are many other reasons why Karadzic’s trial was unfair, including repeated violations by prosecutors of their obligation to disclose evidence to the former Bosnian Serb president’s legal team. Karadzic raised 50 grounds of appeal in a lengthy written document.

The appeals hearing is the latest legal twist in Karadzic’s long fight to clear his name. In a separate case, his former military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, also is appealing his 2017 convictions and life sentence based on a near-identical indictment.

“It’s a tribute to Radovan Karadzic’s character that he stands before you today once again respectful and full of hope,” attorney Peter Robinson told a five-judge appeals panel. “His endless optimism, his love for his people, his intellectual power and curiosity … and even his great sense of humor have kept him fighting for justice at full speed for the last 10 years.”

Published in Daily Times, April 24^th 2018.