Folks may recall that in March, a group of researchers from Purdue University purported to prove that Radovan Karadzic entered into a secret agreement with the United States in which Karadzic promised to remove himself from politics in return for a pledge that he would not be brought before the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Well, last night, Karadzic’s defense team submitted a motion in court which they say proves that such a deal took place.
The above document is the closest thing that the defense team has to a smoking gun. It shows that Karadzic agreed to resign as president of Republika Srpska and disengage from politics completely. There is no American signature on the document, but Karadzic contends that it was written by Richard Holbrooke’s staff. The fact that it is in English, that the American style of writing the date (i.e. July 19, 1996, not 19, July 1996) as well as the words “Final Version” in the upper corner all point to this being an American-drafted document, says Karadzic. Richard Holbrooke, who is now President Obama’s point person on Afghanistan-Pakistan, denies that he ever offered this kind of deal to Karadzic.
This all comes via friend of Dispatch Kevin Jon Heller, who serves as a legal advisor to Karadzic. No word yet on whether or not the court is willing to grant the motion a hearing.