Karadzic to boycott genocide trial

BOSNIAN Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic announced yesterday he will boycott the start of his genocide trial next week complaining he has not been given enough time to prepare.

Karadzic, 64, faces life imprisonment on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions as Bosnian Serb president during the 1992-95 Bosnia war that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.

The trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) starts next Monday. But Karadzic claimed it was being rushed in a written submission to the court released yesterday.