Karadzic again refuses to enter plea

04/03/2009

A UN judge entered "not guilty" pleas to the 11 counts of genocide and war crimes Radovan Karadzic faces, after the former Bosnian Serb leader refused to plead at a hearing in The Hague on Tuesday.

(FT - 04/03/09; AP, AFP, Reuters, Bloomberg, DPA, AKI, BBC, VOA, RTTNews, Beta, B92 - 03/03/09)

A security guard checks the briefcase of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (right) in The Hague on Tuesday (March 3rd). [Getty Images]

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused to plead to charges of war crimes and genocide during a hearing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday (March 3rd), just as he did about six months ago.

"This tribunal does not have any right to try me," he told Judge Iain Bonomy, who presided over the session at The Hague.

The court called Tuesday's hearing after UN prosecutors filed an amended indictment against Karadzic last week, about seven months after his arrest. It charges him with two counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and four of violations of the laws and customs of war during the 1992-1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) conflict.

It also reduces the number of alleged crime scenes from 41 to 27.

Karadzic's case is still in the pre-trial phase. Facing the court at a session in late August, he refused to plead to his previous indictment. In line with ICTY regulations, the judge then entered not-guilty pleas to each charge.

Bonomy had to repeat that procedure during the brief hearing Tuesday.

Karadzic, 63, complained the court had not provided him enough time to assemble legal advisers.

"My time is being cut short," he said. "I still don't have a team of my own through no fault of my own."

Like former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic is representing himself at the ICTY. His behaviour in court and his numerous filings have led many to believe that he is planning to use the delaying tactics pioneered by his wartime mentor.

Karadzic used Tuesday's hearing to renew his claims about an alleged secret deal he had struck with former US envoy Richard Holbrooke in 1996 to give him immunity from ICTY prosecution in exchange for leaving public life.

Holbrooke, who helped broker the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the conflict in BiH, has flatly denied making such a promise.

Facing a 2010 deadline to wrap up all cases, including appeals, judges and prosecutors at the ICTY are trying to speed up the 18 remaining cases.

The ICTY and the EU have both been pressing Serbia to deliver the two remaining war crimes fugitives from the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s still sought by the UN tribunal, particularly former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. The other ICTY indictee still at large is wartime Croat Serb leader Goran Hadzic.