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Karadzic: First appearance at The Hague

Radovan Karadzic

31 July 2008  The former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who is charged with grave violations of international law, appeared in a courtroom at The Hague Tribunal.

Ten days after his arrest, Radovan Karadzic made his first appearance at The Hague Tribunal, but he did not want to enter his plea to the allegations contained in the current indictment.

Karadzic said that he was still familiarising himself with the indictment, adding that he wanted to receive the expanded indictment, which the Prosecution had announced earlier. Judge Alphons Orie scheduled the next hearing for August 29, when Karadzic will have another opportunity to enter his plea to the counts contained in the current indictment.

In case the Prosecution adds new counts to the indictment, which was not confirmed at this hearing, Karadzic will be given a new opportunity to enter his plea.

The wartime President of Republika Srpska, who was indicted by the Hague Tribunal in 1995, for genocide, complicity in genocide, crime against humanity and violations of laws and practices of warfare and the Geneva Conventions, said that he wanted to represent himself during the course of the trial. No attorneys accompanied him during his first appearance at the Court.

Karadzic u Haagu

"Despite the fact that The Hague Tribunal is a natural disaster and I do not want it to fall on me, I will defend myself from it unassisted. I have an invisible counselor, but I have decided to represent myself," Karadzic said.

Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade on July 21, 2008. He possessed an identification card issued in the name of Dragan Dabic. The original indictment against him was filed in 1995, but it was amended in 2000.

Karadzic made an attempt to address the Court, but judge Orie allowed him to speak for two minutes only. The indictee said that he was "concerned for his life." After that he tried to point to "numerous irregularities," which preceded his transfer to Scheveningen. The judge advised him to submit a written note, which would then be considered by the Court.

"I must say that, back in 1996 I received an offer, through my representatives, from Richard Holbrooke and the United States, asking me to perform certain actions and drop out my public functions, promising that they would fulfill their obligations in return. This offer was made on behalf of the US, and not on behalf of Holbrooke, as an individual. My obligation was to drop out all my public functions and even my literary activities," Karadzic said, before being interrupted by the judge, who said that the Tribunal was not familiar with such an arrangement.

Judge Orie advised Karadzic to put those allegations in writing and submit them to the Court, together with the facts.

Richard Holbrooke was an envoy for the Balkans during US President Bill Clinton's term. The speculation related to his agreement with Karadzic first appeared in Bosnian media a few years ago, but the US authorities and Holbrooke himself have denied those allegations several times.

"This is very important for my future and my status. I want to say why I am appearing before this Court only now, instead of doing it in 1996, 1997 or 1998. I must stress that I intended to appear here, but I might have been killed and this was why I had been hunted for all this time," Karadzic said.

At the end of his statement, Karadzic told the Court that he did not have any objections related to the way he was treated by Court staff or the conditions in the detention unit, adding that his health state was "perfect".