Karadzic threatens to boycott start of his trial

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October 22, 2009

Anonymous The Salem News Thu Oct 22, 2009, 03:58 PM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Radovan Karadzic has threatened to boycott his genocide trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, saying in a letter released Thursday he needs more time to prepare.

The 64-year-old former Bosnian Serb leader was arrested in July last year on a Belgrade bus while disguised as a New Age healer. He told judges at the U.N. court he should have been given two years to get ready for the "gigantic" case.

"The biggest, most complex, important and sensitive case ever before this tribunal is about to begin without proper preparation," he wrote.

Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said his trial would still start Monday "as previously scheduled," despite the boycott threat.

That sets up the prospect of the court's biggest trial since its ill-fated prosecution of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic starting without the suspect in court. Milosevic died of a heart attack in 2006 before a verdict could be reached in his four-year trial for atrocities throughout the wars, which erupted as the former Yugoslavia crumbled in the 1990s.

Karadzic is charged with 11 counts of genocide and war crimes for masterminding Serb atrocities during the 1992-95 Bosnian war when an estimated 100,000 people were killed. He is accused of orchestrating crimes, including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men in the U.N.-protected Srebrenica enclave and the deadly campaign of shelling and sniping during the siege of Sarajevo. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

In his six-page letter, Karadzic tells judges assigned to his trial he is not ready, and "therefore I shall not appear before you on that date."

It was not clear if he intended to stay away only for the prosecution's opening statement next week or planned a longer boycott.

Karadzic is defending himself. If he refuses to attend his trial, judges may appoint a defense lawyer — something Karadzic is unlikely to accept.

His letter said he would continue preparing his defense, "and as soon as I will be prepared, I will be happy to inform" court officials "a few weeks in advance."

The court's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said it is up to trial judges what happens next.

"What is important is that the trial will take place," he said. "I hope that very soon we can concentrate not any more on procedural issues but on the crimes allegedly committed by him."

If he persists with the boycott, Karadzic will remain in his cell at the court's detention unit in a seaside neighborhood of The Hague.

In June 2007, former Liberian President Charles Taylor stayed in his cell and fired his attorneys on the opening day of his trial on charges of allegedly orchestrating atrocities in neighboring Sierra Leone.

Taylor's trial was held up for months before resuming with Taylor present and a new lawyer leading his defense.

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