Former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who has boycotted his trial on genocide charges since it started last week, will appear in court on Tuesday, two of his legal advisers said on Monday.
Karadzic (64) has denied all 11 war-crimes charges brought against him over the 1992 to 1995 Bosnian war, including two genocide charges — for the massacre of 8 000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and for broader atrocities.
Karadzic, who is representing himself, has argued that he needs more time to prepare his defence, and was set to miss Monday’s proceedings.
”He will not show up today [Monday] either. He will appear tomorrow because he wants to help find a solution to the problem,” said Marko Sladojevic, one of Karadzic’s legal advisers.
”We hope that the trial chamber will basically grant us the time that is necessary to prepare. We calculated that we needed 10 months to prepare and that is the only position we have.”
Tuesday’s hearing will investigate ways to resolve the impasse, with options including continuing the trial in Karadzic’s absence, assigning counsel, seeking outside advice, and adjourning to allow assigned legal counsel time to prepare.
However, Sladojevic said Karadzic was likely to refuse to talk with an imposed counsel. — Reuters