Karadžić's "witness" Bosniak received money to lie against Alija Izetbegović!

Serbian media and those from the smaller BiH entity have been pushing a story since this morning about a witness for war criminal Radovan Karadžić, who in the final phase of presenting the defence's evidence, would supposedly "score points" by bringing forward protected witness KW-568, who is claimed to be able to significantly change all previous interpretations of the course and goals of the aggression in Bosnia.

However, aside from the spun stories, it is unlikely that the testimony of a former member of the police unit "Biseri" (Pearls), which during the war provided security for members of the Presidency of BiH, could influence the decision of the International Court in The Hague. Protected witness KW-586, according to reliable information from Patria, was indeed a member of the "Biseri" unit, but never had access to meetings of the members of the Presidency of the Republic of BiH, especially not those that were strictly confidential. 

He was all the while an ordinary guard in front of the building of the Presidency of BiH. Also, our sources say that he suddenly "remembered" to testify in Karadžić's favour, and allegedly received a large sum of money for it. He currently lives in Belgium. 

This thesis is supported by the testimony of this witness from February 2014. Namely, testifying under the pseudonym KW-586 and with measures of facial protection and voice alteration, the former member of the BiH MUP stated to the Karadžić defence team that the main planners of the conspiracy were President Alija Izetbegović, his son and son-in-law, then the former reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community Mustafa Cerić, General Sefer Halilović, and the commander of the Army of BiH in Srebrenica, Naser Orić.

The witness was a member of the police unit "Biseri" from May 1992 to May 1994, which provided security for members of the Presidency of BiH and their families.

 He claims to have been present at numerous meetings of President Izetbegović with the aforementioned "conspirators" in the shelter of the National Bank building.

However, right at the beginning of the cross-examination, prosecutor Caroline Edgerton tried to investigate why the witness had waited a full 20 years to speak about a conspiracy of enormous proportions with the consequence of the suffering of a large number of his compatriots.

She reminded him that he could have done so during the war when he left the police and went to relatives in Germany, from where he moved to Belgium after a month or two and lived 200 kilometres from The Hague for five years, but it never occurred to him to take a train and present his truth to the Tribunal investigators.

He could have, the prosecutor pointed out, helped her colleagues who filed indictments against Sefer Halilović and Naser Orić, but he did not speak up even then.

He did not speak about the conspiracy upon his return to Sarajevo in 1999 either. The former member of "Biseri" justified his 20-year silence with fear, but the fear suddenly disappeared when he established contact with Karadžić's lawyer Goran Petronijević.

Another strange thing about his conspiracy theory, according to the prosecutor, is that Izetbegović and his associates would speak about such important matters, which, if leaked, could turn the entire world public against them, without any restraint in front of a witness who was not part of that conspiratorial circle.

And the third illogicality pointed out by the prosecutor is that a conspiracy theory of such magnitude implies a large number of accomplices, none of whom, except for him, and 20 years later, have spoken out.

For example, the firing of shells from near Sarajevo hospitals to provoke a Serb counterattack would have involved numerous soldiers, policemen, truck drivers, artillerymen, and finally, journalists.

Incidentally, in February, at the end of his statement, the witness wanted to add something more, but Judge O-Gon Kwon did not allow it.