UN judges order Mladic to testify at Karadzic trial

[JURIST] The UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday granted a motion by Radovan Karadzic to subpoena Ratko Mladic, former leader of the Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian civil war, to testify at his trial where he has been charged with genocide, crimes against humanity charges and violations of the laws of war. Karadzic claims that he has attempted to gain Mladic's cooperation with the trial, but he has refused. Karadzic expects Mladic to testify that in numerous conversations and meetings between them that they never agreed to commit the crimes of which Karadzic is accused, which would negate his mens rea for multiple charges. Mladic responded that his testimony would be useless because he would refuse to answer any questions that would indict him in his own trial. He further explained his deteriorated health condition should limit his participation to his own trial.

Karadzic has been accused, among other things, of participating in the planning of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre, which resulted in the death of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys. In October 2012 Karadzic opened his defense in the ICTY by denying all charges against him. Earlier in 2012 the ICTY denied Karadzic's request for a new trial after he argued that the prosecution had failed to disclose crucial information until after trial. The court reasoned that the delay in disclosing evidence had not infringed on Karadzic's right to a fair trial. In June 2012 the judges from the ICTY went on a five-day visit to locations relevant to the indictment of Karadzic. This visit came just months after the ICTY sentenced former president of the municipality of Sokolac, BiH, Milan Tupajic to two months in prison for refusing to testify against Karadzic.