Karadzic to face war crimes court

**4me2** · 30th July 2008

Karadzic to face war crimes court

Mr Karadzic changed his appearance during his 13 years on the run

The former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, is to face the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Thursday.
Mr Karadzic, arrested in Belgrade last week after 13 years on the run, was extradited to the Netherlands and is being held at a UN detention centre.
He has been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s.
The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said Mr Karadzic's arrest was "immensely important".
Mr Karadzic will appear before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at 1600 (1400 GMT) to hear the charges against him, and will have 30 days to enter a plea.

Inside the UN detention centre in The Hague

He is said by his lawyers to have been in a "relaxed and confident" mood on the eve of his extradition.
Mr Karadzic currently faces 11 charges including genocide, but the exact details will only be revealed when he makes his appearance before the court.
Speaking at a news conference, Mr Brammertz said the victims of the war had "waited too long for this day".
However, he warned that prosecution and defence teams would need "some months" to prepare for what would be a complex trial. A lawyer for Mr Karadzic said it would take at least three months for his team to prepare its case
Appeal ruse
Mr Karadzic left Belgrade hours after clashes at a rally attended by at least 10,000 supporters to protest about his arrest.

THE CHARGES
Eleven counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities
Charged over shelling Sarajevo during the city's siege, in which some 12,000 civilians died
Allegedly organised the massacre of up to 8,000 Bosniak men and youths in Srebrenica
Targeted Bosniak and Croat political leaders, intellectuals and professionals
Unlawfully deported and transferred civilians because of national or religious identity
Destroyed homes, businesses and sacred sites

Mr Karadzic left a court building in Belgrade at 0345 (0145 GMT), in a convoy of cars with tinted windows.
More than 40 people - most of them police officers - were injured in clashes during the final speeches at the rally organised by the hardline nationalist Radical Party.
He then took a special flight to Rotterdam airport in the Netherlands, from where he was transferred to the UN's detention unit.
Under normal procedure, he would be read his rights, fingerprinted and photographed, and then undergo a medical examination.
The 63-year-old had reportedly attempted to challenge the legality of his transfer but a senior member of his legal team has now told the BBC that no appeal was ever lodged.
Goran Petronijevic, who joined the Karadzic legal team on Tuesday, admitted that reports of an appeal being posted from somewhere in Serbia had been a ruse designed to buy time for Mr Karadzic's family to visit him in jail.
The ruse failed since they did not manage to visit him in Belgrade.
Mr Karadzic was arrested on 21 July in Belgrade. He had changed his appearance, having grown a long beard, and was working as an alternative therapist.
EU pressure
Mr Karadzic led the formation of a separate Bosnian Serb assembly in 1991 - one of the sparks that ignited the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Mr Karadzic has been taken to a UN detention centre

He has been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide over the massacre of up to 8,000 mainly Muslim Bosniaks at Srebrenica in 1995.
He has also been charged over the shelling of Sarajevo, and the use of 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995. On Tuesday, EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels decided to defer a decision on unfreezing trade benefits for Serbia until Mr Karadzic was transferred to The Hague. The EU is also demanding the arrest of Mr Karadzic's wartime military commander General Ratko Mladic, who remains at large.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7533201.stm

**Nibb** · 31st July 2008

Karadzic appears at Hague court

Mr Karadzic appeared in court without any legal advisers

The former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, is appearing at the UN war crimes tribunal to be formally charged.
Mr Karadzic was indicted on 11 counts of war crimes in connection with the 1990s Bosnian conflict, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
He was given 30 days to decide on a plea. A new hearing date was set for 29 August. The prosecution told the judge it wanted to amend the indictment.
Mr Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade last week after 13 years on the run.
The judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Alphons Orie, said Mr Karadzic would be held in a detention centre until the next hearing, but could file for provisional release.
Mr Karadzic told the court he had decided to represent himself throughout the proceedings, although he said he had what he called an invisible adviser.

THE INDICTMENT
Eleven counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities
Charged over shelling Sarajevo during the city's siege, in which some 12,000 civilians died
Allegedly organised the massacre of up to 8,000 Bosniak men and youths in Srebrenica
Targeted Bosniak and Croat political leaders, intellectuals and professionals
Unlawfully deported and transferred civilians because of national or religious identity
Destroyed homes, businesses and sacred sites

Judge Orie asked Mr Karadzic if he could understand the proceedings, and told him he had a right to remain silent. Mr Karadzic said he understood.
The judge said the indictment included one count of genocide, once count of complicity of genocide, five of crimes against humanity, and four counts of war crimes.
The alleged crimes included his involvement in an attempt to destroy in whole or in part the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat ethnic groups.
That included the killing of thousands of civilians in Srebenica by Bosnian Serb forces, and the shelling of Sarajevo, killing and terrorising the city's civilians.
During the hearing, the prosecution said it wanted to amend the indictment.
Mr Karadzic, who appeared in court shorn of the long hair and bushy beard he grew while on the run, said he wanted more time to study any new indictment.

Relaxed

Mr Karadzic was said by his lawyers to have been in a "relaxed and confident" mood on the eve of his extradition to the Netherlands in the early hours of Wednesday.

Mr Karadzic's decision to conduct his own defence means this first court appearance is likely to be just the opening skirmish in a long legal battle, says the BBC's Dominic Hughes in The Hague.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said Mr Karadzic's arrest was "immensely important", adding that the victims of the war had "waited too long for this day".
'Appeal ruse'
Mr Karadzic left Belgrade on Wednesday hours after clashes at a rally attended by at least 10,000 supporters to protest about his arrest.
He then took a special flight to Rotterdam airport in the Netherlands, from where he was transferred to the UN's detention unit.

The 63-year-old had reportedly attempted to challenge the legality of his transfer, but a senior member of his legal team has now told the BBC that no appeal was ever lodged.
Goran Petronijevic, who joined the Karadzic legal team on Tuesday, admitted that reports of an appeal being sent by post to the authorities in Serbia had been a ruse designed to delay Mr Karadzic's extradition in order to allow time for his family to visit him in jail.
However, a travel ban on his family was lifted on Wednesday, to allow them to visit him in The Hague.
Their documents had been confiscated in January under suspicion that they were helping Mr Karadzic in hiding.
Mr Karadzic was arrested on 21 July in Belgrade. He had changed his appearance and was working as an alternative therapist.

EU pressure

Mr Karadzic led the formation of a separate Bosnian Serb assembly in 1991 - one of the sparks that ignited the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Karadzic's daughter and wife will now receive passports

He has been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide over the massacre of up to 8,000 mainly Muslim Bosniaks at Srebrenica in 1995.
He has also been charged over the shelling of Sarajevo, and the use of 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995.
On Tuesday, EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels decided to defer a decision on unfreezing trade benefits for Serbia until Mr Karadzic was transferred to The Hague.
The EU is also demanding the arrest of Mr Karadzic's wartime military commander General Ratko Mladic, who remains at large.

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