http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/27/radovankaradzic-war-crimes
GUARDIAN (UK)
How to follow the Radovan Karadzic trial on the web
After years on the run, the former Bosnian Serb leader will finally face
charges of war crimes – on a webcam and in two languages
Mark Tran
Tuesday 27 October 2009 16.02 GMT
The empty seat where former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is due to
to sit for his trial in The Hague. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP
Arrested last year in Serbia under a false identity after 13 years on the
run, Radovan Karadzic has been indicted on two counts of genocide, the
gravest charges possible, for allegedly overseeing the mass murder and
deportation of tens of thousands of Bosnia's Muslims in the north-west of
the country in 1992 and at Srebrenica in the north-east in 1995.
The tribunal's website provides comprehensive coverage of the Yugoslav war
crimes trials. It includes victim statements, statements of guilt by those
who have admitted responsibility for specific crimes and an interactive map
showing the location of dozens of atrocities including those at Srebenica
and Gorazde.
The proceedings against Karadzic can be followed via webcast in English and
French, as well as Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian. Judgments and initial
appearances - when the accused faces the court for the first time - are
broadcast live. All other sessions are broadcast with a 30-minute delay to
allow for the removal of confidential information.
Karadzic faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against
humanity for allegedly orchestrating a systematic campaign of murder, terror
and deportation in the 1992-95 war aimed at seizing half of Bosnia and
ridding it of all non-Serbs.
His trial, which started on Monday at the Hague, got off to a rocky start.
Karadzic boycotted the opening, to the outrage and frustration of those
Bosnian Muslims who had travelled 1,200 miles by bus to see justice done.
The trial is being conducted under the auspices of the international
criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the first war crimes court
created by the UN and the first international war crimes tribunal since the
Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals.
The tribunal's indictments address crimes committed from 1991 to 2001
against members of various ethnic groups in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Serbia, Kosovo and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.
The proceedings are expected to be protracted. Karadzic, like the late
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, has refused a lawyer and is expected to
use his trial as a platform to mock the tribunal and challenge its
authority.
Milosevic – who died in custody – and the Serbian warlord Vojislav Seselj
used similar delaying tactics to politicise and drag out their trials.
Judges have been criticised by lawyers, victims' associations and human
rights activists for allowing the war crimes suspects to set the agenda and
manipulate the court.
The tribunal suffered a heavy blow when Milosevic, who had a heart
condition, died before a verdict was reached. Prosecutors had hoped to
convict the man considered the primary architect behind the tragic events
that engulfed the former Yugoslavia. Another key figure wanted by the
tribunal, General Ratko Mladic, remains at large.
More than 60 people have been convicted and currently more than 40 people
are in different stages of proceedings before the tribunal.
Karadzic's trial may be the last big case of the UN's Yugoslav war crimes
tribunal since its creation 15 years ago.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
