Karadzic trial to resume April 13, war crimes court rejects his appeal for more time

War crimes court rejects Karadzic trial delay bid

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will resume April 13, with the first witness testifying at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, the court announced Thursday.

The date was set after appeals judges rejected Karadzic’s latest bid to delay the case until June 17.

His trial on 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes has repeatedly been held up by Karadzic’s claims that he has not had enough time to prepare.

The trial began Oct. 26, but Karadzic — who was a fugitive from justice for more than 12 years — boycotted it to protest his lack of preparation time. His absence halted the proceedings until March 1, when Karadzic made a two-day opening statement before judges again adjourned the case pending the outcome of his appeal for more time.

Prosecutors allege that Karadzic orchestrated Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian war including the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia’s Srebrenica enclave, Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.

The first prosecution witness will be Ahmet Zulic, a Bosnian Muslim survivor of a Serb-run prison camp, who has testified at several other of the tribunal’s trials.

Prosecutors have a total of 300 hours to present their case against Karadzic. The trial is scheduled to sit for three days a week.

Karadzic, who is defending himself with the help of an international team of lawyers, has refused to enter pleas but insists he is innocent.

In his opening statement, Karadzic told judges he was not the barbarian depicted by U.N. prosecutors, but was protecting his people against a fundamentalist Muslim plot during the war.

The Muslims were the first to attack, and their fighters “had blood up to their shoulders,” the 64-year-old said. “Their conduct gave rise to our conduct.”

If convicted, Karadzic faces a maximum life sentence.

He is the most senior leader to come before the U.N. court since former Serb President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach a verdict in his genocide trial.

Karadzic’s American lawyer, Peter Robinson, could not immediately be reached for comment.