Karadzic challenges UN tribunal's legitimacy
30/11/2009
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said in a motion Monday (November 30th) that the UN war crimes tribunal has no "legal validity and legitimacy". Karadzic, who is charged with 11 counts of war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia, boycotted the start of his trial last month, forcing judges to appoint a lawyer for him against his will and to delay the trial until March 2010 to give that lawyer time to prepare. "Regardless of what the decision of the Trial Chamber may be in response to this motion, Radovan Karadzic believes it is his moral duty … to challenge the legal validity and legitimacy of this court," Karadzic said in his eight-page document. (Reuters, AP - 30/11/09)