Prosecution Opens Case Against Karadzic
By VOA News
27 October 2009
War crimes prosecutors have launched their long-awaited case against Radovan Karadzic, as the former Bosnian Serb wartime leader boycotted his trial Tuesday for a second straight day.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is pictured in courtroom of International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, 31 Jul. 2008
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is pictured in courtroom of International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, 31 Jul 2008
In an opening statement, prosecutor Alain Tieger called Karadzic the "supreme commander" of an army responsible for ethnic cleansing that terrorized Bosnia's civilian population during the 1992-to-1995 war.
Karadzic is conducting his own defense and is refusing to attend the trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. He insists he needs more time to prepare his defense.
The tribunal has rejected those demands, and chief Judge O-Gon Kwon said Tuesday he will consider naming a lawyer to represent the defendant if he continues the boycott.
Prosecutors accuse Karadzic of orchestrating the 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys near Srebrenica.
In all, the 64-year-old defendant faces 11 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Serbian police arrested Karadzic last year after he spent 12 years on the run as one of the world's most wanted fugitives.
His indicted wartime military chief, Ratko Mladic, remains at large. Serbian authorities promise to extradite him to The Hague as soon as he is captured.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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