No shocks as Karadzic stays away from trial

THE abrupt adjournment of the long-awaited genocide trial against former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, after he boycotted the proceedings yesterday, came as no surprise.

Yet bus-loads of haunted widows, mothers and relatives of those who were massacred, were in The Hague hoping to see him in the dock accused of crimes described as “scenes from hell written on the darkest pages of human history”.

The women of Srebrenica and other victims of the Balkan conflict cried out in rage outside the court building as news filtered through that the proceedings were being adjourned after less than half-an-hour to “encourage Mr Karadzic to attend the proceedings”.