Karadzic boycotts war crimes trial
Former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic boycotts trial
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By James Christie. |  |
Monday, 26, Oct 2009 10:05
By Richard James.
Former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has failed to appear at his trial at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The 64-year-old faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.
Mr Karadzic's presence at the initial proceedings was thrown in doubt last week when he told UN judges he had not been given enough time to prepare and therefore would not be attending.
The former Bosnian-Serb leader, who is representing himself, reportedly claimed he should be given up to two years to prepare for the trial.
Mr Karadzic said in a letter to the judges he required more time to get ready and as a result "I shall not appear before you on that date".
The judge at the tribunal adjourned proceedings for the day on Monday following Mr Karadzic's failure to attend, with the prosecution set to make its opening statement tomorrow.
Judge O-Gon Kwon warned Mr Karadzic to attend to prevent the trial being delayed any further. The former Bosnian-Serb leader is not due to give his opening sentence until next week.
The start date has already been put back twice already.
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.
The 64-year-old 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'.