<http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/29/europe/hague.php> http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/29/europe/hague.php
Karadzic refuses to enter pleas in war crimes case By Marlise Simons Friday, August 29, 2008 PARIS: Radovan Karadzic faced a judge on Friday for the second time since his arrest and quickly seized the chance to demonstrate the first step of his defense strategy: He refused to enter pleas to all 11 charges against him and dismissed the war crimes tribunal as "a court of NATO" that was posing falsely as a court of the international community. After his first month in the custody of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic, 63, the former Bosnian Serb leader, was back in court, seeming relaxed and evidently fully engaged with the proceedings against him. While claiming to spurn the court, he has already fired off lengthy motions, letters and requests in recent days, as he is acting as his own defense lawyer. He wanted copies of warrants to search his former home, copies of orders to freeze his assets and answers to his challenge of the legitimacy of the court. He has demanded an explanation of whether NATO or the United States intends to kill him, as he has claimed. Judge Iain Bonomy entered not guilty pleas on his behalf on 11 counts, which include charges of crimes against humanity, allowing pretrial proceedings to proceed even though Karadzic rejects the court's legitimacy. The hearing Friday was one of a series of steps leading up to Karadzic's trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995. Karadzic was arrested on a Belgrade bus - on July 21 according to the Serbian government, on July 18 according to him - after years as a fugitive. Prosecutors will seek to prove that as the political leader and commander in chief of a Bosnian Serb ministate, he bears the legal responsibility for some of the Balkan war's greatest atrocities, including the massacre in Srebrenica, where close to 8,000 unarmed men and boys were executed in 1995, and the three-year siege of Sarajevo, which left 10,000 civilians dead. Seated between blue-uniformed United Nations guards, Karadzic alternately delivered broadsides against the court and tried to joke with the judge, who was mildly amused. Bonomy told Karadzic that he had the right to have his indictment read out to him. "I have no interest in listening to that," Karadzic replied. The judge moved on, requesting that Karadzic rise and enter his pleas. In the indictment, the judge began, "you are charged with genocide. How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?" Karadzic replied, "I will not plead," and Bonomy said that in keeping with the rules he would enter the words "not guilty" for all 11 charges. Sitting down, Karadzic called out across the courtroom: "May I hold you to your word?" "Which word?" the judge asked. "That I'm not guilty," Karadzic said. "We shall see in due course," the judge said. Bonomy, a Scottish judge, kept up a brisk pace, giving Karadzic little chance to stray from the day's agenda. He urged the Bosnian Serb leader to take on professional defense lawyers because of the enormous workload awaiting him. He also chided the prosecution, which has said it is revising the present indictment against Karadzic and will present a new version in late September. Given the importance of the trial and the need to conclude the tribunal's work, the judge said, he found it difficult to understand why it was taking so long to update the longstanding indictment. Prosecutors have said they need to take into account the large volume of evidence and rulings from recent trials that overlap with the case against Karadzic. The next hearing was set for Sept. 17.
