UN war crimes tribunal rules to appoint lawyer for Karadzic

THE UN war crimes tribunal has ruled that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will be appointed a lawyer to represent him whenever he fails to appear in court.

It also postponed the resumption of his trial until March 1, 2010, when the new lawyer should be ready to take over, if needed.

The decision comes after Karadzic boycotted the start of his war crimes trial last week, arguing that he has not had enough time to prepare his defence.