THE LONG-AWAITED genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was abruptly adjourned after he boycotted the opening day of proceedings at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague yesterday.
Neither Mr Karadzic, the political leader during Bosnia’s 1992 to 1995 war which left up to 100,000 dead, who is accused of orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre and siege of Sarajevo, nor his political advisers were present at the court.
He had already announced his intention not to attend, claiming he needed more time to prepare.
Presiding judge O-Gon Kwon adjourned proceedings less than 30 minutes after the court opened, saying there had been an exchange of letters with Mr Karadzic in which he was advised that he should turn up, but he had refused to do so.
The prosecution called for the court to impose counsel to represent Mr Karadzic, “whether he likes it or not”, should he persist in his refusal to attend.
The Women of Srebrenica, other victim groups and representatives of the Society for Threatened Peoples reacted angrily as news filtered through that the presiding judge had adjourned the hearing for a day – it will reconvene this afternoon – to “again encourage Mr Karadzic to attend the proceedings”.
They unfurled a banner bearing the names of thousands of dead, stretching the length of the park in front of the UN war-crimes tribunal building.
Bosnian Muslim women from Srebrenica, who made the 32-hour, 2,000km (1,240-mile) bus journey to The Hague, held up a hand-woven tapestry with the names of their dead relatives. Bitterly disappointed at the postponement, many could not afford a night in a hotel but vowed to remain, sleeping on the ground outside or in the buses.
One woman said: “We travelled 2,000km and spent over 32 hours on a bus, we waited 15 years for this moment, and now the trial is delayed.”
Munira Subasic (62), who also lost loved ones in the July 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, said: “We have lost everything. This has been our last hope and our only hope to see some justice. The whole of Europe watched with closed eyes at what was going on when our families were exterminated by this monster and his campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
Mr Karadzic faces two counts of genocide and nine other charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Today chief prosecutor Alan Tiegs is expected to formally put the charges to him, whether or not he decides to show up.
The worst crimes relate to the 44-month siege of Sarajevo in which some 10,000 civilians were killed and the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica. He is accused of having committed these crimes in his pursuit of a “greater Serbia”.
Mr Karadzic’s former right-hand man, Ratko Mladic (67), the former military chief for the Bosnian Serbs and similarly indicted, has been on the run since 1995.
Mr Karadzic’s trial, expected to last years, far beyond the timescale originally set for the tribunal, is the most important in the tribunal’s history, together with that of his former mentor, Slobodan Milosevic, who died of a heart attack midway through his own genocide trial, having obstructed the court for years.
Judge O-Gon Kwon yesterday issued a warning to the former Bosnian Serb strongman, who was captured after 13 years on the run in August of last year, heavily disguised and practising as a new-age healer .
“There are measures that can be taken should he continue to obstruct the progress of the trial,” the judge warned after opening and then adjourning the trial.
These include imposing a defence counsel on his behalf, proceeding in his absence, or giving in to his demands for more time to prepare his case.
Mr Karadzic, who denies all charges against him and insists he can prove his innocence, has argued that the prosecution had 14 years in which to build a case against him while he has been given 14 months to defend himself.
Last week he said he would boycott the hearing because he needed more time to prepare.
More than one million pages of evidence will be presented and more than 300 witnesses may be called.