Prosecution Objects Postponement of Karadzic Trial

The Hague Prosecution has filed a motion opposing Radovan Karadzic's request for the postponement of his trial, which is currently scheduled for March 1, 2010.

In its motion, the prosecution recalls previous decisions, made last September by the Trial and Appeals Chamber, regarding Karadzic's level of preparedness for the trial.

“The adjournment of the trial until March 1, 2010 was unrelated to any need for Karadzic to further prepare, but was rather granted to permit appointed counsel adequate time to prepare to appear at trial should Karadzic choose to again absent himself from the proceedings,” the prosecution's motion read.

Radovan Karadzic was arrested in summer 2008 and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY. He is indicted for war crimes, including genocide, committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.

The trial started last fall with two days of opening remarks by the prosecution, but Karadzic did not appear in the courtroom, claiming that he was not ready. The Trial Chamber decided to postpone the trial until March, and appointed a counsel for Karadzic, but he did not accept the appointed lawyer.

This week he filed another motion for postponement, again claiming that he is not ready.

The prosecution also claimed that motions filed by its office recently do not affect Karadzic’s ability to continue the trial. Since September last fall about 300,000 documents have been submitted.

One of the reasons for the prosecution's objection to Karadzic's motion for postponement is its concern for witnesses. As it said, prior to the beginning of the trial, the prosecution “must schedule its trial witnesses and liaise with the Victims and Witnesses Unit to arrange the logistics of bringing witnesses to The Hague.”

“To avoid needlessly inconveniencing witnesses, and to avoid the costly exercise of bringing witnesses to The Hague unnecessarily, any decision on postponement should be made as soon as possible.”

The prosecution has already submitted a schedule for the first 30 witnesses that it will call upon. A number of them are victims of war, while others are war-time Republika Srpska leaders, as well as international officials.