Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will appear before the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal where he is charged with genocide, but only to argue for more time to prepare his defence, his advisers said on Monday. Skip related content
Karadzic, who has denied all 11 war crimes charges brought against him over the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including two genocide charges -- for the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and for broader atrocities, has boycotted the trial since it started last week, but said in a letter he would make an appearance on Tuesday.
"I hope we will be able to find a solution which will lead to not only an expeditious trial, but a fair one," Karadzic said in the letter.
Earlier, one of his legal advisers, Marko Sladojevic, said Karadzic would not appear on Monday but intended to appear in court on Tuesday.
"We hope that the trial chamber will basically grant us the time that is necessary to prepare. We calculated that we needed 10 months to prepare and that is the only position we have."
The former Bosnian Serb leader, who is representing himself, said in a letter to the court released on Monday, that although he would not be in court that day, he would attend Tuesday's status hearing.
That hearing will investigate ways to resolve the impasse, with options including continuing the trial in Karadzic's absence, assigning counsel, seeking outside advice, and adjourning to allow assigned legal counsel time to prepare.
In Karadzic's absence, prosecutors continued with their opening statement after judges again allowed them to proceed.
"We resume today with the shelling and sniping campaign against Sarajevo's civilian population," prosecutor Alan Tieger said.
Among the charges against him is the 43-month siege of Sarajevo that began in 1992 and killed an estimated 10,000 people as the former Yugoslavia was torn apart in the 1990s by Serbs, Croats and Muslims fighting for land.
"Radovan Karadzic led a campaign of shelling and sniping that struck civilians and civilian objects in Sarajevo day after day," Tieger said.
Judge O-Gon Kwon had earlier said the trial chamber considers Karadzic's absence to be a waiver of his right to attend the trial.
Sladojevic also warned that Karadzic was likely to refuse to cooperate with an imposed counsel, further delaying the case.
(Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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