Destroying cultural heritage

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: December 11, 2011  

DESTROYING CULTURAL HERITAGE

http://www.sense-agency.com/icty/destroying-cultural-heritage.29.html?cat_id=1&news_id=13483

Andras Riedlmayer, witness at the Radovan Karadzic trial

US expert for the Ottoman cultural heritage Andras Riedlmayer testified at the trial of Radovan Karadzic about the destruction of Muslim and Catholic cultural and religious buildings during the war in BH. The sites where mosques and churches used to stand were turned into parking lots, flea markets or garbage tips. According to Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb authorities were not to blame for the destruction: it was the consequence of the ‘chaos of a civil war which engenders more chaos’

American expert for the Ottoman cultural heritage Andras Riedlmayer used photographs to show the degree of destruction of the Muslim and Catholic religious buildings in the municipalities controlled by the Republika Srpska Army (VRS). Some of the buildings suffered varying degrees of damage, but some were almost or completely destroyed. In many cases, all evidence of their existence was destroyed: the sites where they used to stand were turned into parking lots, flea markets or garbage tips.

Among the cultural and religious buildings that were completely destroyed, Riedlmayer listed the parish church in Kljuc, the town mosque in Rogatica, the Kozarusa mosque in Prijedor, the Aladza mosque in Foca, and many others, including the mosque of the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in Zvornik. The mosque stood on a steep ridge, about two hours’ walk on very rugged terrain, which goes to show how much effort was put into the destruction of the mosque.

Riedlmayer visited 281 sites in BH where mosques and other Muslim religious buildings used to stand. He found that 266 of buildings suffered major damage or were almost or completely destroyed. The same degree of damage was noted in 32 of the 42 Roman Catholic buildings visited by the US expert. He noted that a map on which the sites of the damaged or destroyed buildings were marked would closely correspond to the territory controlled by the Bosnian Serb forces.

In the cross-examination, Karadzic tried to discredit Riedlmayer’s expertise and impartiality, arguing that as a whole the US expert was only interested in trials of Serbs and Serbia. Karadzic put it to the witness several times that he ‘expressed regret that Serbia was not found guilty of genocide in Bosnia’. Riedlmayer said he was in fact a witness for BH in the proceedings against Serbia and Montenegro before the International Court of Justice, stressing, ‘As far as I can recall, the Court established that Serbia had violated the Genocide Convention by failing to prevent or punish the genocide in Bosnia’. He could not recall if he had expressed regret over the fact that the judgment ‘did not go beyond that’, but as he insisted, it would have been ‘good’ if it had.

Challenging the witness’s impartiality, Karadzic brought up the petition for his and Mladic’s arrest signed by Riedlmayer and thousands of other people, and a text Riedlmayer wrote in 1993, A Short History of BH, advocating the lifting of the arms embargo on the Muslims’. Riedlmayer did not deny it, saying BH as a UN member state was entitled to self-defense.

Karadzic put it to Riedlmayer that he did not take into account ‘the chaos of a civil war which engenders more chaos’ when he wrote his report. As Karadzic said, the witness did not take into account that there had been fighting near the damaged buildings. He claimed on the one hand that the Muslims used mosques as recruitment centers and weapon distribution posts, and minarets as sniper and machine gun nests. On the other, he argued that the civilian and military authorities in Republika Srpska had nothing to do with their destruction and that they worked hard to protect them and prosecute the prosecutors. Karadzic blames the paramilitaries and Serb refugees who had fled the areas where Muslims and Croats destroyed Serb places of worship for the destruction of Muslim religious buildings.

Based on the traces on the remains of the damaged or destroyed cultural and religious buildings, the prosecution expert said, one could conclude that they were not destroyed in the fighting. Quite the contrary: some buildings were quite obviously damaged by explosive or fire, and then razed to the ground with bulldozers. As the witness said, many buildings were destroyed after the Serbs took over power. An example was the mosque in Bijeljina which was destroyed in the spring of 1993. At that time, the town had been under the VRS control for almost a year.

Riedlmayer noted it was his job to establish the facts about the degree of destruction inflicted on the Muslim and Catholic cultural and religious buildings; it is up to the Trial Chamber to establish who is responsible for the damage.

Radovan Karadzic’s trial will continue after the winter recess, on 10 January 2012.

UNIŠTAVANJE KULTURNOG NASLJEĐA

Andras Riedlmayer, svjedok na suđenju Radovanu Karadžiću

http://www.sense-agency.com/tribunal_%28mksj%29/unistavanje-kulturnog-nasljedja.25.html?news_id=13481&cat_id=1

Američki ekspert za otomansko kulturno nasljeđe Andras Ridlmajer na suđenju Radovanu Karadžiću svjedočio o razaranju muslimanskih i katoličkih kulturno-vjerskih objekata tokom rata u BiH. Mjesta gdje su se nalazile džamije i crkve pretvorena su u parkirališta, buvlje pijace, odlagališta smeća ili starih automobila. Po Karadžiću, za razaranja nisu krive vlasti bosanskih Srba već “haos građanskog rata koji se sam oplođava”

Američki ekspert za otomansko kulturno nasljeđe Andras Ridlmajer/Riedlmayer je na suđenju Radovanu Karadžiću uz pomoć fotografija prikazao stepen razaranja muslimanskih i katoličkih vjerskih objekata u opštinama pod kontrolom Vojske Republike Srpske (VRS). Neki od tih objekata su pretrpili manja ili veća oštećenja, dok su drugi gotovo ili potpuno razoreni. U mnogim slučajevima uklonjeni su svi tragovi postojanja tih objekata, a mjesta na kojima su se nalazili su pretvorena u parkirališta, buvlje pijace, odlagališta smeća ili starih automobila.

Među kulturno-vjerskim objektima koji su potpuno uništeni navedeni su Župna crkva u Ključu, čaršijska džamija u Rogatici, džamija Kozaruša u Prijedoru, Aladža džamija u Foči i brojne druge, uključujući i džamiju Sultana Mehmeda Osvajača u Zvorniku. Ta džamija se nalazila na jednom vrlo strmom grebenu i da bi joj se prišlo, kaže svjedok, bilo je potrebno oko dva sata hoda po vrlo strmom terenu što zapravo pokazuje koliki je trud bio uložen u destrukciju tog objekta.

Ridlmajer je obišao 281 lokaciju u BiH na kojima su se do rata nalazile džamije i drugi muslimanskih vjerski objekti. Od toga, u 266 slučajeva ustanovio je da su objekti pretrpili veća oštećenja ili su bili gotovo ili potpuno razoreni. Isti stepen oštećenja pretrpila su 32 od 42 rimo-katolička objekta koje je američki ekspert obišao. On je primijetio da bi karta nacrtana prema lokacijama gdje su se nalazili oštećeni ili uništeni objekti vjerno prikazala teritoriju koja se nalazila pod kontrolom snaga bosanskih Srba.

Karadžić je u unakrsnom ispitivanju napadao Ridlmajerovu stručnost i objektivnost, sugerišući da je američki ekspert u cjelini bio zaitneresovan samo za procese protiv Srba i Srbije. Karadžić je sugerisao svjedoku da je u više navrata “izrazio žaljenje što Srbija nije osuđena za genocid u Bosni”. Ridlmajer je ukazao da je on bio svjedok BiH u procesu protiv Srbije i Crne Gore pred Međunarodnim sudom pravde i naglasio: “Koliko se sjećam taj je sud presudio da je Srbija prekršila Konvenciju o genocidu time što nije spriječila niti kaznila genocid u Bosni”. Dodao je da se ne sjeća da li je ranije izražavao žaljenje što ta presuda “nije išla dalje od toga”, ali je naglasio da svakako smatra da bi “bilo dobro” da se to dogodilo.

Osporavajući svjedokovu objektivnost Karadžić je ukazao i na peticiju za njegovo i Mladićevo hapšenje koju je Ridlmajer potpisao zajedno sa hiljadama drugih ljudi, kao i njegov tekst “Kratka istorija BiH” iz 1993. godine, napisan “s ciljem podsticanja da se ukine embargo na izvoz oružja Muslimanima”, što Ridlmajer nije ni osporavao ukazujući na pravo BiH kao članice UN na samoodbranu.

Karadžić je sugerisao da Ridlmajer prilikom izrade ekspertskog izvještaja nije uzeo u obzir “haos građanskog rata koji se sam oplođava”, kao i činjenicu da su u blizini oštećenih objekata vođene borbe. On je s jedne strane tvrdio da su Muslimanima džamije služile kao regrutni centri i mjesta za distribuciju oružja, a minareti kao snajperska i mitraljeska gnijezda, dok je druge strane nastojao dokazati da civilne i vojne vlasti RS nisu imale ništa s njihovim rušenjem i da su se, naprotiv, zalagale za njihovu zaštitu i procesuiranje počinilaca. Karadžić uništavanje vjerskih objekata, naime, pripisuje paravojskama i srpskim izbjeglicama iz onih mjesta u kojima su Muslimani i Hrvati uništavali srpske vjerske objekte.

Na osnovu tragova na ostacima oštećenih ili uništenih kulturnih i vjerskih objekata, rekao je vještak optužbe, moglo se zaključiti da razaranja nisu posljedica ratnih dejstava. Naprotiv, bilo je vidljivo da su pojedini objekti oštećeni eksplozivom ili zapaljeni, a potom razoreni buldožerima. Svjedok je naveo da su mnogi objekti uništeni tek nakon preuzimanja vlasti od strane Srba, a kao primjer je naveo džamiju u Bijeljini koja je uništena u proljeće 1993. godine, u vrijeme kada je grad bio skoro godinu dana pod kontrolom VRS.

Ridlmajer je napomenuo da je njegov posao bio da utvrdi činjenice o stepenu uništenja muslimanskih i katoličkih kulturno-vjerskih objekata, a da posao oko utvrđivanja odgovornosti za ta razaranja prepušta Pretresnom vijeću.

Suđenje Radovanu Karadžiću nastavlja se nakon zimske sudske pauze, 10. januara 2012. godine.