Ex-Bosnian Serb leader says conscience clear

RADOVAN Karadzic, who led Bosnian Serbs into a 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people, says his conscience is clear and he does not regret his role for which he is awaiting trial on genocide charges.

“I do not regret my own role,” the former Bosnian Serb leader said in a written interview from a detention centre in The Hague.

“I didn’t seek public office, but when I held it, I carried out my duties with the best interest of the people in my heart.”

Karadzic was president of the Bosnian Serbs, who sought to carve out their own state from Bosnia in the war, Europe’s deadliest since World War Two.

“I am most proud of having carried out my duty without seeking personal gain or for my own self interest,” he said in a letter to Reuters from The Hague, seat of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. “I will feel free wherever I am for the remainder of my life.”

The former psychiatrist is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including two of genocide, over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

He denies all charges, though in his letter he lamented the war which, as in the past, he blamed on Bosnian Muslims.

“I regret what happened during the war in Bosnia — the many lives that were lost, the suffering of people of all ethnicities, and the shattering of families and property,” he wrote. “I deeply regret that the war was fought, but it was not our choice.”

Serbian authorities arrested Karadzic in the capital Belgrade last summer after discovering that he was living openly behind a thick beard and new identity as a New Age healer.

Karadzic’s top commander General Ratko Mladic remains at large and his capture is a condition for Serbia to move closer to EU membership.

“I had no protection in Serbia and I don’t believe General Mladic does either,” Karadzic said. “I hope that after my trial, things will look quite different and perhaps there will be no need to arrest or try anyone else, including General Mladic.”

He declined to answer questions about his guru disguise or any close calls he may have had while living in the Serbian capital.

The suspected war criminal said he had not been politically active from behind the scenes after giving up office in 1996, a year after the war.

Since his arrest Karadzic has wrangled with the tribunal during pre-trial proceedings, demanding that top diplomats be called as witnesses to support his argument that he was offered an immunity deal in 1996 if he disappeared from public view.

The tribunal has ruled that any immunity agreement would not clear Karadzic from prosecution. Prosecutors were aiming for the trial to start by the end of the year but with various pre-trial motions, it is more likely to start next year.

In his letter, Karadzic declined to say how history should judge his role.

“It has been said by a great Serbian writer that time is a great sifter of events,” he wrote. “My contribution to history can only be judged after much time has passed. And I am certainly not the one best placed to judge that.”

Karadzic will attend a pretrial hearing tomorrow.