Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic appeared defiantly before a UN war-crimes judge on Wednesday, claiming a top United States envoy had promised him immunity on behalf of the UN Security Council.
Appearing briefly before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Karadzic repeated claims that he was promised indemnity by former US diplomat Richard Holbrooke in 1995 in exchange for disappearing from the public eye.
But he added on Wednesday that Holbrooke had not only been acting on behalf of the US, but all permanent members of the UN Security Council.
“Everything that was done by Mr Holbrooke led to a Security Council resolution,” Karadzic told judge Iain Bonomy.
“This is not an issue that can simply be dismissed as a bilateral agreement between me and the United States. He [Holbrooke] acted on behalf of the permanent members of the Security Council.”
Bonomy warned Karadzic of the dangers inherent to conducting his own defence, particularly with regard to Karadzic’s submissions on the issue of indemnity.
The trial court was considering his claims, said Bonomy, to determine whether any agreement with Holbrooke “can have or ought to have an influence on the work of an independent tribunal”.
“I hope you took legal advice when you made your representations and that you didn’t sell yourself short in this particular matter,” the judge told Karadzic.
The 63-year-old faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, notably for the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left 10 000 dead and the July 1995 massacre of about 8 000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.
Prosecutor Alan Tieger told the court that a new indictment would be filed by Monday. No details were disclosed as to whether this would include new or amended charges.
Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s 1992to 1995 war, has denied cutting a deal with Karadzic. — AFP