Radovan Karadzic in the courtroom

Former Republika Srpska president Radovan Karadzic has asked the Trial Chamber to advise the ICTY president to report Germany to the UN Security Council for its violation of its duty to cooperate with the Tribunal.

According to a decision the Trial Chamber issued on 1 December 2011, Germany was under an obligation to serve a subpoena on former intelligence officer Christoph von Bezold, compelling him to be interviewed by Karadzic’s legal advisor Peter Robinson. The former German intelligence officer served as a European Community monitor during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and might have information relevant to an operation in which weapons were smuggled to the Bosnian Muslims in milk cartons in the Bihac area in March 1994. This may be relevant for Karadzic’s defense.

Germany has informed Karadzic that it has served the Tribunal’s subpoena on Von Bezold, noting that German law “does not incorporate any obligation on a person to participate in an interview realized by the legal advisor of the accused outside of the trial”. The German state doesn’t have at its disposal measures to compel such presence.

Von Bezold twice failed to appear at arranged locations in Berlin and in Garmisch Partenkirchen where Karadzic’s legal advisor Robinson was waiting for him in January and April 2012. Karadzic contends that Germany has failed to produce evidence that its authorities have either served the subpoena on Von Bezold or notified him where and when the meeting would take place. The Trial Chamber has ordered Germany twice to do it and the government has promised two times that it would comply with this obligation. The accused has now asked the judges to schedule a hearing where Germany would explain its actions. If no such clarification is forthcoming, the Trial Chamber should inform the Tribunal’s President that Germany has violated its obligation to cooperate with the Tribunal. The ICTY President should then report this failure to the UN Security Council, Karadzic contends.

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