Lawyer Goran Petronijević stated that he hopes representatives of the Mechanism in The Hague will “find the strength” to go to the United Kingdom and personally verify the true health condition of convicted war criminal Radovan Karadžić, “which is very poor,” or that they will allow a medical commission from Belgrade and Banja Luka to examine him.
Petronijević claimed that “British authorities are sending false information about Karadžić’s health condition and the crises he is experiencing in the prison on the Isle of Wight.”
“To all inquiries initiated by the Secretariat, that is, the Mechanism, in response to our objections, requests, and warnings about his health condition, the prison authorities provide completely inaccurate information,” said Petronijević. “We can’t even be angry at the President of the Mechanism, Graciela Gatti Santana, who trusts them,” he added.
He noted that the health condition of the convicted war criminal is “very poor,” that the prison is inadequate, and emphasized that a prominent doctor from the United Kingdom has already issued a report confirming that Karadžić’s chronic health problems are indeed present and severe.
“We still hope that someone from the Mechanism will find the strength to at least go personally to verify this, or to allow us to send a medical commission from here, from Banja Luka and Belgrade, to examine him and provide their opinion,” said Petronijević.
According to him, the Mechanism in The Hague has not yet made a decision on the lawyers’ request to transfer the convicted war criminal Karadžić back to the detention center in Scheveningen.
“For us, it would be a success to have him returned to The Hague. That would be like an interim solution. Because The Hague is like a hotel compared to the conditions he’s in now. We’re waiting, writing, pleading, informing, monitoring…” Petronijević said.
Written by our correspondent D.I.
