Karadzic to Attend Special Hearing on Tuesday

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Radovan Karadzic has announced his intention to appear before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday at a special hearing designed to end his boycott of the trial. The trial was scheduled to begin last Monday, October 26, but was abruptly halted after he refused to appear.

Karadzic has requested that the tribunal grant him an additional eight to ten months to prepare for trial. 

Prosecutors proceeded to set out their case against Karadzic last Tuesday despite his absence, and continued to do so today. They have accused Karadzic of being "supreme commander" and the "undisputed leader" of a Bosnian Serb campaign to eliminate Muslims and Croats from Bosnian territory claimed by Serbs.

 
Photo: The empty seat at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague where Radovan Karadzic was to be seated during his trial. [Source: AP Photo/Peter Dejong]

Taken into custody in July of 2008 after thirteen years in hiding, the former Bosnian Serb leader was discovered on a bus in Belgrade disguised as a new age healer. He faces eleven war crimes charges, including counts of genocide for his role in the Srebrenica massacre, and the bloody siege of Sarajevo.

Marko Sladojevic, Karadzic's legal adviser, said:

"He will not show up today. He will appear tomorrow because he wants to help find a solution to the problem...We hope that the trial chamber will basically grant us the time that is necessary to prepare and that is the only position we have."

During the Tuesday hearing parties will discuss measures to end the boycott, including the option of granting Karadzic more time to prepare. Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon has also said that he would consider imposing an attorney to represent Karadzic if the boycott were to continue.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger's opening statements focused on Karadzic's role in the massacre of Srebrenica, in which roughly 8,000 muslim men and boys were killed.  He said:

"The murder of these men and the expulsion of the women, children and elderly did not arise from nowhere...These crimes were the culmination of the accused's determination to cleanse eastern Bosnia to ensure the Serb state he envisioned."

Karadzic's boycott of the trial last week angered and frustrated dozens of war survivors, many of whom were widows from Srebrenica, who traveled hundreds of miles by bus to the see the trial. 

For more information, please see:

AP - Karadzic to continue trial boycott - 2 November 2009

BBC - Karadzic 'will appear at trial' - 2 November 2009

Telegraph - Radovan Karadzic 'will appear in court on Tuesday' - 2 November 2009