TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Karadzic Letter Condemns Complicity Of Accusers

ADVERTISEMENT

The New York Times

Published: August 2, 2008

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a rambling, argumentative letter published by the war crimes tribunal on Friday, Radovan Karadzic raised "serious irregularities" about his treatment and said an international "media witch hunt" had jeopardized his chances for a fair trial.

The four-page signed statement - full of outbursts and accusations - goes into greater detail about the deal the former Bosnian Serb leader contends was made with the United States in 1996 to help him evade justice.

He continues the bitter criticisms of the former American envoy, Richard C. Holbrooke, that he outlined during his first appearance before the international war crimes tribunal on Thursday, adding that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also proposed he drop out of sight by opening a private clinic somewhere abroad.

Thin, stiff and impeccably polite, Karadzic appeared before the tribunal on Thursday and declined to answer charges that he led Bosnia into an ethnic war that turned to genocide. The indictment against him includes a catalog of crimes in a broad swath of places, but most crucial are the three-year siege of Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians died, and the mass killings at Srebrenica, where nearly 8,000 unarmed men and boys were executed in a weeklong massacre in July 1995.

In the 75-minute hearing Thursday, Karadzic stayed mostly low-key with occasional twitches of anger and humor. He repeated old rumors that Holbrooke had brokered his deal with the United States to evade arrest, allegations that his written statement takes further.

"As for me, Mr. Holbrooke undertook on behalf of the U.S.A. that I would not be tried before this tribunal and that I should understand that there would be very sharp rhetoric against me so that my followers would not hamper the implementation of the Dayton agreement," he said in the statement. Holbrooke denied the accusations.

In the letter, Karadzic describes his life after that, saying that he kept to his side of the bargain, laying low to avoid the attention of international troops and "possible adventurers and glory hunters."

But he said Holbrooke suspected he had broken the agreement after a private conversation was leaked by a Greek journalist and that he feared for his life after 13 years as a fugitive because Holbrooke intended to "liquidate" him.

Referring to the trial, he said, "There cannot be any regularity in this, because I do not know how long the arm of Mr. Holbrooke or Mrs. Albright is, or of anyone from that team, or whether that arm can reach me here."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT