Karadzic trial postponed until March 2010
Karadzic trial postponed until March 2010
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Thursday, 05, Nov 2009 04:17
The United Nations (UN) war crimes court has postponed the trail of ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic until March 1st 2010.
The trial chamber today issued a decision in which it instructed the registrar to appoint a counsel to prepare to represent the interests of Karadzic.
The 64-year-old faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war. Today it was ruled the appointed counsel should be given three and half months to prepare for the trial, which started in October 26th.
"No counsel, not even the most experienced and efficient, could reasonably be expected to be in a position to assist the accused and, by extension, the trial process, without sufficient, albeit defined, preparation time," the trial chamber found.
"Thus, there will need to be a delay of some months before the trial can resume, if it does so with a form of appointed counsel."
Mr Karadzic is suspected of being directly involved in the killing of 8,000 Muslim Bosnians in the town of Srebrenica in 1995. He faces life imprisonment if convicted of the charges.
He was arrested in Belgrade last year after more than a decade on the run during which time he posed as an expert in 'human quantum energy'.