Court imposes a lawyer due to repeated absenteeism by Karadzic

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan karadzic has been imposed a lawyer by the UN war crimes court, but postponed the trial for four months.

The decision came as a result of Karadzic’s absence during his trial. Although Karadzic has no legal background he has opted to defend himself in the trial saying that he needs more time to prepare his defenses.

On Thursday the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said “the accused’s conduct has effectively brought the trial to a halt, which is evidently his purpose”.

The court was adjourned and the trial would begin on March 1st 2010 with the court appointed defendant. They said that “the overall interests of justice are best met by the appointment of counsel”.

Karadzic has time after time refused to enter the pleas, but he still insists that he is innocent. Now after this ruling he will have 7 days to apply for permission to appeal and another 7 days to file the appeal.

Radovan Karadzic is guilty of crimes such as mass Genocide against Muslim men and boys at the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst atrocity in Europe since the second world war in which about 8,000 people were mass murdered. He is also charged of crimes against humanity and violations of customs of wars.

He masterminded atrocities against Muslims and in the Bosnian war during 1992-1995. Between April 1992 and November 1995, Karadzic, with other members of a JCE, implemented a military strategy that used sniping and shelling to kill, maim, wound and terrorize the residents of Sarajevo.

Karadzic on left as a Bosnian Serb leader, and on right disguised as Dr Dragan Dabic before he was caught

The charge sheet says that he stands guilty for “participated in an overarching joint criminal enterprise to permanently remove Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat inhabitants from the territories of Bosnia Hercegovina claimed as Bosnian Serb territory”.

After 13 years on run he was finally caught in Belgrade last July. He had disguised himself as Dr Dragan Dabic, a New Age healer wore thick glasses and grown bushy beard and straggly gray hair.

Prosecutors wanted to try Karadzic alongside General Ratko Mladic, his wartime military chief, but Mladic has yet to be apprehended. The other is Goran Hadzic, a former leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia.