Ved krigsforbryterdomstolen i Haag har aktoratet lagt frem 245 telefonsamtaler som dokumenterer hvor dypt Slobodan Milosevic var implisert i krigene i Kroatia og Bosnia. Karadzic snakket han med to-tre ganger om dagen.

They reveal conversations between Serbia’s former president and other members of the so-called joint criminal enterprise alleged to have orchestrated Yugoslavia’s break-up – including the likes of the Serbian secret service chief Jovica Stanisic, the head of federal customs Mihalj Kertes and leaders of various police and paramilitary units such as Zeljko «Arkan» Raznatovic and Milorad «Legija» Lukovic.

Through the crackling of outdated telephone lines, the intercepts give remarkable detail of how the wars were conducted. They portray the defendant playing Byzantine-style political games in which he and his associates are constantly setting traps for other Yugoslav political leaders who opposed their goals.

Peppered with strong language, muffled sounds of chewing and the clatter of plates, the conversations drift from politics to war to personal health and family relations.

Man skulle kanskje tro at det endelig er vestlig etterretning, dvs. amerikanerne, som endelig har mannet seg opp til å bistå domstolen. Men nei, det er den bosniske regjering som har levert materialet. De tappet linjene. Samtalene skriver seg fra sommeren 91, rett før krigen brøt ut i Kroatia, til våren 92, da den spredte seg til Bosnia.

Milosevic wire tap revelations

Telephone intercepts appear to expose the former Yugoslav president’s role in Croatian and Bosnian conflicts, writes Ana Uzelac from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Opptakene er meget ubehagelige for Milosevic:

The wire taps show that Milosevic spoke to Karadzic sometimes two to three times a day and that the latter traveled to Belgrade to consult with the former almost on a weekly basis.

«The intercepts show clearly that [the defendant] took an active part in planning, instigating and preparing the crimes described in [his] indictment,» said prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann.

The intercepts show the evolution of the relationship between Karadzic and Milosevic, starting off as distant but amiable in early 1991, becoming friendlier as the year progresses.

Throughout, Karadzic addresses Milosevic formally, while the latter is more familiar with the former, apparently suggesting the unequal nature of the relationship.

Occasionally, Karadzic assumes the role of unofficial liaison between Milosevic and the military and political leadership of the Croatian Serbs – often carrying alarmist messages from the battlefields in Croatia, which the ex-Serbian president regularly checks out and dismisses as exaggerated.

In one of the intercepts, which was already accepted as evidence and used in the Croatia part of the Milosevic trial, the defendant is recorded arranging military actions in Croatia and asking Karadzic to make sure that a Serb military force in the Bosnian Serb town of Banja Luka is «able and mobile and has no problems».

In these conversations, Milosevic comes across as the more level-headed of the two, calming down Karadzic’s consistently militant rhetoric. But by July 1991, the war in Croatia is already raging and it becomes increasingly clear that Bosnia would go the same way. This is the one time when the defendant describes the reality in clear terms, «Now it is, as they say, war, and we are one of the warring sides.»

Samtalene er unike, fordi de gjengir direkte noe av stemningen den gangen, og omgangsformen sier noe om hvordan disse menneskene planla og drev krigen:

Through the crackling of outdated telephone lines, the intercepts give remarkable detail of how the wars were conducted. They portray the defendant playing Byzantine-style political games in which he and his associates are constantly setting traps for other Yugoslav political leaders who opposed their goals.

Peppered with strong language, muffled sounds of chewing and the clatter of plates, the conversations drift from politics to war to personal health and family relations.

Samtalener gjort tilgjengelige for offentligheten og vil helt sikkert bli brukt til å lage dokumentarfilmer.