THE HAGUE (Agencies)
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appeared for the first time at his trial for genocide in the Bosnian war on Tuesday but said he would take no further part unless he had more time to prepare his defense.
Karadzic, who is acting as his own attorney, refused to attend the opening of the proceedings before the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal last week.
He has said he needs another 10 months to prepare his defense against 11 war crimes charges, including genocide during the 1992-95 conflict.
" I don't want to boycott these proceedings but I cannot take part in something that has been bad from the start " Radovan Karadzic "I don't want to boycott these proceedings but I cannot take part in something that has been bad from the start," Karadzic said when asked by Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon if he would continue his boycott.
"The situation is such is that I would really be a criminal if I were to accept these conditions."
"Mr. Karadzic cannot be permitted to manipulate the proceedings through his decision not to attend," said prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff.
Kwon warned on Monday that should Karadzic maintain his position not to attend the trial "we may proceed in his absence and assign counsel to represent him."
Imposing a lawyer on Karadzic, a step he has vowed to fight, could cause a delay of several months, to give his new legal representative time to acquaint himself with the case. |
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One of "humanity's darkest chapters" " Mr. Karadzic cannot be permitted to manipulate the proceedings through his decision not to attend " Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff Prosecutors have said in opening statements that Karadzic orchestrated one of "humanity's darkest chapters" and is responsible for the mass killings of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the village of Srebrenica in July 1995.
The charges also relate to the 43-month siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces which began in 1992. An estimated 10,000 people were killed in the siege as the former Yugoslavia was torn apart in fighting between Serbs, Croats and Muslims.
Karadzic was the Bosnian Serb supreme commander, single-mindedly pursing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" during the war, prosecutors say.
A psychiatrist before becoming president of the self-proclaimed Republica Srpska, Karadzic stepped down from power in 1996 and went into hiding until he was captured in July 2008, bearded and disguised as an alternative healer in Belgrade.
Tuesday's hearing was being held to investigate ways to resolve the impasse over his boycott, either by continuing the trial in his absence, assigning counsel, seeking outside advice, or adjourning to allow assigned legal counsel time to prepare.
The complicated trial is expected to take years and involve hundreds of witnesses. There are more than one million pages of prosecution documents. |
