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Karadzic’s Trial Will Not be Postponed

Radovan Karadzic

26 February 2010  The Hague Tribunal Chamber rejects Radovan Karadzic's proposal to postpone the trial, stating that the indictee is due to present his introductory arguments on March 1 and 2 and evidence presentation is due to begin the following day.

The Trial Chamber has decided that Richard Harvey, Karadzic's appointed Defence attorney, will be present in court during the presentation of introductory arguments by the indictee. It also said that two members of his Defence team could be present in court.

"Following the presentation of introductory arguments, a decision will be made concerning the role Mr. Harvey will play during the further course of this trial," the Trial Chamber said.

The trial of Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, who is charged before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia with crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war, began in October 2009, when the Prosecution presented its introductory arguments in the absence of the indictee.

In November 2009, acting on a warrant issued by the Trial Chamber, the Registrar's Office appointed Richard Harvey as an attorney, who would represent Karadzic at the trial if he continued "interrupting the proceedings".

The indictee was not present in court at the beginning of the trial, claiming that he was not ready for his defence. On several occasions he has asked for the trial to be postponed.

Karadzic filed his last motion on February 22. In this motion he asked the Court to postpone the trial for three and a half months in order to enable him to prepare for the presentation of evidence and, among other things, review more than 400,000 pages submitted to him by the Prosecution.

"The Trial Chamber is not convinced that the volume of the additional material justifies yet another postponement of this trial, particularly since the indictee has had 18 months to prepare for it. (...) Postponing the trial further would be a drastic measure, which would, at the same time, have serious repercussions on the right of the parties to a fair and expeditious trial," the Trial Chamber said in its decision, adding that it was determined in September 2009 that this case "was ready for trial".

The Court's decision notes there are other ways of making sure that Karadzic's rights are not violated, such as giving the indictee additional time to prepare for cross-examination of certain witnesses or reviewing certain pieces of evidence submitted to him over a short period of time.

"The Trial Chamber stresses that the Prosecution will continue providing the indictee with materials. He cannot be expected to review all the material prior to the beginning of the evidence presentation process. The volume of the material and the time-span in which it was submitted to the indictee did not come as a result of some mistake made by the Prosecution. Under the circumstances, the trial cannot be postponed on the basis of unreasonable submission of material by the Prosecution," the Court said.

Karadzic was arrested in Serbia on July 21, 2008, after having been on the run for many years. The Hague Prosecution charges him with genocide committed in Srebrenica and ten other Bosnian municipalities as well as crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.