The former head of the Croatian intelligence service HIS, Miroslav Tudjman, is not a defence witness in the case of wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, lawyer Luka Misetic said on Wednesday, responding to reports in the Bosnian media which said that Tudjman acceded to be a witness for the defence of Karadzic, whom the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged with genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Miroslav Tudjman is under a subpoena because he has refused to voluntarily cooperate with Radovan Karadzic's defence. Mr. Tudjman has only agreed to respect the Tribunal's subpoena, which he is required to do by law. He has not agreed to be a Defence witness for Radovan Karadzic," said Misetic, who represents Tudjman in the case related to Karadzic's request that his defence team interview Tudjman regarding his alleged knowledge about arms deliveries to Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) during the war.
Karadzic, who is standing trial at the tribunal in The Hague, has requested the UN tribunal to enable him to have an interview with Tudjman as he believes that in his capacity as the HIS head, Tudjman had information about the delivery of arms to Muslims (Bosniaks) in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.
Tudjman has said that he will not answer questions pertaining to Croatia's national security, regardless of the possibility that he could be subpoenaed by the ICTY, as by doing so he would be violating Croatia's law.
In the meantime Croatia's authorities have said that under certain conditions Tudjman could be freed from the obligation to keep state secrets, and Karadzic informed the tribunal that he had fulfilled those conditions, adding that he would introduce Tudjman as a witness.
