FIRST HAGUE TRIBUNAL CONVICT DUŠKO TADIĆ PRESENTS BOOK, PLANS TO SEEK REVIEW OF VERDICT

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 29 /SRNA/ – At the stand of Republika Srpska at the International Book Fair in Belgrade, the first Hague detainee, Duško Tadić, presented his book "The Deception of the Century", announcing that he will file a request for review of his verdict, believing that new facts have emerged.

Tadić said that in this book he presented evidence showing that the authorities in Sarajevo had prepared witnesses against him, including some of Serb nationality, who were proven to have lied before the Hague Tribunal. He stated that the Hague prosecution did everything it could to distort his case, noting that the key event was the alleged killing of a police officer in front of the Orthodox church in Kozarac, with the trial chamber accepting all evidence presented by the prosecution. Tadić added that he was unable to verify that information at the time and that the entire case was based on a setup by the prosecution. He pointed out that during the 20 years of the Tribunal’s work, many defendants appeared before it, but as the first one to be tried, he had no opportunity to bring a single key witness for his defense. According to him, most of the witnesses were former police officers, whose testimonies led to his conviction. "After 20 years, I have obtained concrete evidence that could lead to a review of my case, as it involves new facts concerning who actually killed that police officer," Tadić emphasized. After 74 days of trial and the hearing of 81 witnesses, on May 7, 1997, Duško Tadić – the first Serb before the Hague Tribunal – received the first-instance verdict for war crimes, contained in a 300-page explanation. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, two-thirds of which he served in Germany. Since his release in 2008, Tadić has been gathering new evidence, published in his book “The Deception of the Century”, and plans to initiate a motion for review of his case before the Hague Tribunal. The book was published by "Sajnos", and besides the author, the presentation also featured priest Milorad Sredojević and Sava Mijatović.