Karadzic makes first appearance at trial

RADOVAN KARADZIC appeared at his UN war crimes trial yesterday for the first time since it began last week, claiming his “fundamental rights have been violated” by judges who started without him.

The former Bosnian Serb leader, accused of masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, had boycotted the first three days of the trial.

Yesterday, Karadzic, who is defending himself, again insisted that he needed more time to prepare.

“I do not want to boycott these proceedings, but I cannot take part in something that has been bad from the start and where my fundamental rights have been violated,” Karadzic said.

He has refused to leave his jail cell since the trial started on October 26, saying he needs more time to review 1.3 million pages of prosecution evidence and the statements of hundreds of witnesses.

“I have given up my walks in the fresh air,” working day and night to prepare for the case,” said Karadzic.

He faces two counts of genocide and nine other charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He has refused to enter pleas, but insists he is innocent of all charges.

The prosecution’s opening statement portrayed Karadzic as the supreme commander of a brutal campaign to ethnically cleanse Muslims and Croats from Bosnian Serb claimed territory. The campaign included the 44-month siege of the capital, Sarajevo, and culminated in the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica.

Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff urged judges to impose a court-appointed lawyer on Karadzic so that the case can continue even if he continues his boycott.

“Mr Karadzic cannot be allowed to manipulate the proceedings through his decision to not attend hearings,” she said.

The court is desperate to avoid Karadzic’s trial becoming a carbon copy of the case against his political mentor, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, whose political grandstanding, stalling tactics and ill health dragged his trial out for more than four years.

Milosevic’s trial ended without a verdict in 2006 after he died of a heart attack in his UN jail cell.

Milosevic also defended himself, and when the court forced a defence lawyer on him in an attempt to speed up proceedings Milosevic refused to cooperate with him.

Karadzic was indicted in 1995 and has been in custody for 14 months.

“The situation is such that I would really be a criminal if I were to accept these conditions — to enter a trial for which I am not prepared,” he said.

Karadzic said prosecutors have loaded him down with 1.3m pages of evidence and that he only has been able to work on his defence since May, when he got all the evidence from prosecutors.

But Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon said Karadzic was repeating claims he has made in pretrial hearings and in motions that have been rejected by trial and appeal judges. He signalled the court is unlikely to grant him any more time.

“At the end of the day, I again remind you that it is in your best interest to attend and participate fully in the trial so that justice can be done,” Kwon said.