Several opposition parties have roundly criticised the Defence Ministry following allegations that it misinformed the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in connection with documents in the Radovan Karadzic case, according to Kristeligt Dagblad.

The parties concerned have now demanded an explanation from the Defence Ministry as well as a new search for the relevant papers.

The demands come after Kristeligt Dagblad yesterday published a report saying it had seen three documents which should have been handed over to the ICTY in the case.

They include a background briefing on the bombing of Markale Market in Sarajevo in 1994, a telefax with conclusions about the report and a conversation between Denmark’s London ambassador and the British Foreign Ministry.

The documents are alleged to raise UN doubts as to whether Karadzic’s Bosnian-Serb forces were responsible for the Markale incident, or whether indeed the explosive was put in place by Bosnian Muslims.

“This is unacceptable and the defence ministry’s responsibility. Either they haven’t wanted to hand over the documents or they haven’t looked properly. The Foreign Ministry has specifically asked them to investigate the issue properly,” Social Democratic Foreign Policy Spokesman and former Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft tells Kristeligt Dagblad.

Social Liberal Defence Spokesman and also a former Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen says the issue is very serious adding it is ‘deplorable’ that questions can be raised as to Denmark’s cooperation with the tribunal.

Liberal Party member of the Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee Michael Astrup Jensen says the issue provides food for thought.

“I will be raising the issue with the defence minister so that we can make sure that we provide the best possible service to the tribunal in the future. If there has been a mistake in procedure it should be rectified. I have no reason to believe that ministry officials have held something back. Denmark has an interest in prosecuting war criminals properly,” says Jensen.