THE HAGUE (AFP) — Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is demanding prosecutors disclose alleged documents of a deal he says he struck with a top US official to avoid prosecution, a UN war crimes court said Friday.
His application demanded disclosure of all information "concerning the agreement made with Radovan Karadzic on or about 18-19 July 1996 by Richard Holbrooke", the tribunal said.
"The disclosure... may lead to the dismissal of all charges against him," read the application published by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
"The prosecution cannot be allowed to sweep the agreement with Richard Holbrooke under the rug," it said.
Karadzic was arrested on a Belgrade bus in July.
The 63-year-old faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, notably for the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 dead and the July 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.
He has claimed since his first appearance before the tribunal on July 31 that the alleged Holbrooke agreement rendered his prosecution invalid.
He maintains that Holbrooke, the US peace negotiator in Bosnia, had promised he would shield Karadzic from the tribunal in return from disappearing from the public eye. Holbrooke has insisted that no such deal existed.
Karadzic repeated the claims on Friday and asked prosecutors to disclose, among other things, a copy of the written agreement he claimed was reached with Holbrooke.
"The documents... are material to the preparation of his (Karadzic's) defence," states the submission.
Karadzic claimed they would prove that Holbrooke's "promise is attributable to the ICTY because it was made on behalf of, or in consultation with, the member states of the UN Security Council or was reasonably believed to be so made."
If the existence of the agreement could be proved, argues Karadzic, it "might suggest the legal innocence of the accused or mitigate his punishment if convicted".
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