Srebrenica Genocide Blog: VICTIMS BURN PHOTOS OF U.N. JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS

Special Report: Members of prominent victims' associations staged protests in Sarajevo today and also held meetings with representatives of the Hague Tribunal's outreach office. They are outraged at the Hague Tribunal's decision to continue shortening the indictment against Radovan Karadzic. They threatened to boycott the trial - and effectively collapse it - by not showing up to testify against the former Bosnian Serb leader charged with genocide.

PHOTO: Bosniak survivors of genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina set photos of several U.N. war crimes tribunal judges on fire during a protest against the possible shortening of Radovan Karadzic's indictment in front of the U.N. office in Sarajevo, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009. Some 150 members of various victims associations gathered Wednesday to urge the U.N. court not to further cut anything from Karadzic's genocide indictment.

Bosniak survivors of concentration camps, massacres, mass rapes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide warned today they may boycott the upcoming Radovan Karadzic trial by refusing to tesitify against him if the Hague Tribunal continues reducing the scope of charges against the accussed. Refusal of key witnesses to testify against Karadzic may lead to the collapse of the trial against him. Here is a translated version of the news published today by the Federal News Agency, scroll down to read it ↓

PHOTO: A Bosniak survivor of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide - in which Bosnian Serb forces summarily executed at least 8,372 and expelled another 30,000 Bosniaks - burns a picture of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic during protests near the United Nations headquarters in Sarajevo September 16, 2009. Protesters demonstrated against a decision by the Hague-Based International War Crimes Tribunal to cut the number of locations to be mentioned in the prosecution's evidence and the number of witnesses by more than a quarter for the trial of Karadzic. Karadzic could go on trial as early as October 19 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the pre-trial judge of the tribunal overseeing his case said on September 8, 2009. Survivors also voiced their grievance over the tribunal's decision to grant an early release of former Bosnian Serb President Bilijana Pavsic after serving two-thirds of an 11-year sentence for war crimes.

VICTIMS SAY THEY WON'T TESTIFY AGAINST RADOVAN KARADZIC IF THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL CONTINUES CUTTING CHARGES AGAINST THE ACCUSED

SARAJEVO, 16 September (FENA) - Associations that bring together victims of the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their families have announced today they will call on their members not to testify in the process against Radovan Karadzic if the Hague Tribunal continues shortening the indictment against the accused.

This announcement came today in Sarajevo during the protests organized by three major victims' rights NGOs: the Association of Detainees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Association "Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves" and the Association "Women - Victims of War."

Many members of these associations came today from all over Bosnia to join protests held in front of the United Nations building in Sarajevo.

Their representatives met with Refik Hodzic - spokesperson for the Sarajevo's office of the Hague tribunal - and with representatives of the local B&H Prosecutor's Office.

After the meeting, Hodzic told reporters that he would immediately send a very serious warning to the Hague Tribunal about a possible boycott of victims to testify in the upcoming trial against Radovan Karadzic. Hodzic will also request urgent meeting to be held between representatives of victims' NGOs, President of the ICTY and the Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal.

Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Detainees and one of the participants in the talks, along with Bakira Hasecic, president of the Association "Women - Victims of War" and Munira Subasic, president of the Association "Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves" supported the demands of their respected associations.

Hasecic said if the injustice continues, the victims will ask the European Parliament to adopt a special resolution which would protect muslims as threatened peoples in Europe.

Members of the three victims' rights NGOs are outraged at the decision of the Hague tribunal which seeks to shorten Radovan Karadzic's indictment - the same indictment that has already been shortened - and to reduce the scope of the trial because of alleged lack of space, time and money.

Shorteninig of the indictment that has already been shortened, coupled with yesterday's news about the Hague Tribunal's decision to grant early release from prison for a convicted war criminal Biljana Plavsic, is seen by the victims as a serious injustice to them and their families.

They expressed outrage that the justice for victims will never be attainable if the Hague Tribunal continues to treat their tragedy lightly. They also said that the Hague Tribunal punishments often look like a slap on the wrist and that many war criminals can, with a peaceful soul, say that it pays to commit a crime and it pays to be a criminal.

During today's protest, the victims also expressed their bitterness at the current RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik who is on record for denying the Bosnian Serb responsibility for massacres of young people in Tuzla gate during the last war in BiH.

Copy of original article in Bosnian language below:

ŽRTVE ZLOČINA NAJAVLJUJU DA NEĆE SVJEDOČITI U SLUČAJU DALJNJEG SKRAĆIVANJA OPTUŽNICE PROTIV KARADŽIĆA

SARAJEVO, 16. septembra (FENA) - Udruženja koja okupljaju žrtve proteklog rata u Bosni i Hercegovini i njihove porodice najavili su da će u slučaju daljnjeg skraćivanja optužnice protiv ratnog zločinca Radovana Karadžića pozvati svoje članstvo da u Haškom tribunalu ne svjedoči u ovom procesu.

To je saopćeno danas u Sarajevu tokom protesta triju takvih asocijacija - Saveza logoraša BiH, Udruženja "Majke enklave Srebrenica i Žepa" te Udruženja "Žena - žrtva rata".

Brojni članovi tih udruženja doputovali su iz cijele BiH na ovaj protest održan ispred zgrade Ujedinjenih naroda.

Za to vrijeme njihovi predstavnici razgovarali su u sarajevskom uredu Haškog tribunala s predstavnikom tog ureda Refikom Hodžićem te s predstavnicima Haškog tužilaštva.

Hodžić je nakon razgovora kazao novinarima da će hitno u Tribunal prenijeti vrlo ozbiljno upozorenje žrtava o njihovom mogućem bojkotu svjedočenja u procesu protiv Karadžića.

Prenijet će također i zahtjev udruženja da se njihovi zastupnici hitno sastanu s predsjednikom i glavnim tužiocem Tribunala.

Zahtjeve je potvrdio i Murat Tahirović, predsjednik Saveza logoraša, kao jedan od učesnika ovih razgovora, zajedno s Bakirom Hasečić, predsjednicom Udruženja "Žena - žrtva rata" i Munirom Subašić, predsjednicom Udruženja "Majke enklave Srebrenica i Žepa".

Hasečić je izjavila da će žrtve, ukoliko nepravda prema njima bude nastavljena, tražiti od Evropskog parlamenta da izglasa posebnu rezoluciju o ugroženosti muslimana kao manjine u Evropi.

Članovi ovih triju udruženja ogorčeni su zbog odluke Sudskog vijeća Haškog tribunala kojom se traži skraćivanje već skraćivane optužnice protiv Karadžića i reduciranje rada u tom predmetu zbog, kako je navedeno, nedostatka prostora, vremena i novca.

To a i jučerašnju vijest o prijevremenom puštanju iz zatvora već osuđene ratne zločinke Biljane Plavšić žrtve doživljavaju kao tešku nepravdu prema njima i njihovim porodicama.

Ogorčenje izražavaju izjavama da im pravda nikad neće biti dostižna ako bude nastavljen ovakav odnos prema njihovoj tragediji te izjavama da je zločincima iz proteklog rata gledano kroz prste pa neki od njih mirne duše mogu reći da im se isplatilo biti zločinac.

Tokom današnjeg protesta žrtve su isticale i ogorčenost zbog istupa aktuelnog premijera Republike Srpske Milorada Dodika u kojem on izobličava teški zločin počinjen nad mladim ljudima na tuzlanskoj Kapiji tokom proteklog rata u BiH.

(Fena) gk/mb