President of Republika Srpska testifies at ICTY for Mladic: Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska testified for Mladic’s defence and was cross examined at the ICTY on Monday 7 December and Tuesday 8 December 2015. Dodik testified “I can say today I am totally confident that the official policy of that time was not ethnic cleansing.” And that expelling Muslims and Croats from Republika Srpska was “never given as a goal” and on the contrary that there “were attempts to involve Bosniaks and Croats in the Assembly of Republika Srpska.” He testified that as a political and institutional separation of peoples was occurring, it was a goal of the Repulika Srpska as well, but that “It was not our intention to divide ourselves based on ethnic cleaning and killings.”
On cross examination Dodik emphasized that despite the Republik Srpska parliament’s declaration to separate Serbs from Bosniaks and Croats that “the primary objective was the defence of the population from Muslim, and later from Muslim-Croatian aggression.” He states that Brcko was “an important communication point and a legitimate military target, but nor from the standpoint of ethnic cleansing. When confronted with a statement from a Republika Srpska MP that referenced an “ethnically pure state” Dodik did not remember the individual or the statement. Dodik states that all of the Bosnian Serb’s actions were to preserve Yugoslavia after the secession of the Bosniaks and Croats from the state. (Balkan Insight, Balkan Insight)
Bosnia arrests former general Sakib Mahmuljin for war crimes: Bosnian police arrested former Bosnian army general Sakib Mahmuljin, for suspected war crimes against Serb prisoners in the 1992-95 conflict. In a statement Tuesday, 8 December 2015, the prosecutor’s office said that Sakib Mahmuljin is “suspected of having not prevented a [paramilitary unit] that operated on the territory he was in charge of in central Bosnia from kidnapping and killing 50 prisoners that Mahmuljin’s units arrested during a 1995 battle.” The prisoners were taken by regular Bosnian army units but then abducted and executed. (abc News)
UNHRC elects South Korean, Choi Kyong-lim, as president: The U.N. Human Rights Council elected South Korean diplomat and representative of Seoul’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva, Choi Kyong-lim, as president. Choi will chair council meetings involving the UNHRC’s 47 member states and will also be responsible for carrying out the Universal Periodic review. According to a statement attributed to the foreign ministry, “[t]he U.N.’s decision shows the international community highly values South Korea’s rapid democratization and improvement of human rights conditions.” Choi will be the tenth president of the council, and replaces Joachim Rucker for a one year term. (Korea Times)
The post 8 December 2015 – NEWS ABOUT THE COURTS – Pres of Republika Srpska testifies for Mladic, Bosnian general arrested and new UNHRC Pres elected appeared first on ICL Media Review.