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Karadzic, Mladic Dispatch a Lawyer to the Tribunal After refusing to recognize the existence of the ICTY, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are sending a lawyer to The Hague to challenge the legitimacy of the Rule 61 proceeding against them.
It is the first time that the Bosnian Serb leadership has acknowledged the tribunal as a legitimate authority and may indicate that the pair are preparing to defend themselves.
A statement faxed to Reuterss from Karadzic's "cabinet" named Belgrade lawyer Igor Pantelic as the two men's legal counsel to a tribunal hearing scheduled for Thursday. Until now, both Karadzic and Mladic have refused to recognise the tribunal, dismissing it as a political instrument of Western powers who were trying to use
it as a way of persecuting Serbs.
Both men top the tribunal's list of 58 people indicted for war crimes, but they have consistently refused to surrender and face trial in defiance of the Dayton peace agreement. Karadzic and Mladic, indicted twice by the tribunal, face charges of genocide arising from the siege of Sarajevo which killed an estimated 10,000 people, and the 1995 fall of Srebrenica after which some 6,000 Muslims were feared to have been systematically executed.
Hobbled by its inability to arrest those accused of war crimes, the tribunal is falling back on its Rule 61 process -- a mechanism which allows prosecutors to present evidence at public hearings against those charged but not arrested. But the U.N. Security Council resolution which set up the tribunal does not allow for a trial in absentia.
Before leaving for the Hague, Pantelic told the independent Belgrade television station BK TV that those who call Rule 61 "The Voice of the Victim" are being cynical. "Actually the prosecutor will try to concentrate his so-called 'evidence' and in a non-legal way, influence the public atmosphere," he said.
Although Pantelic is charged with representing the two men in The Hague, he refused to speculate on whether or not they would eventualy appear before the tribunal.
"I have to investigate if the procedure up to now has been regular and in accordance with the law," he said. "Based on that evaluation, and on the facts that I will collect in The Hague, we will see what to do next."
Pantelic's appointment came as the Bosnian Serb parliament met in Pale to review world pressure for Karadzic's resignation. It also follows an ultimatum from Belgrade which demanded that the Bosnian Serbs replace Karadzic, or face unspecified consequences.
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BELGRADE, June 25 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic sent a lawyer to The Hague on Tuesday to challenge the international war crimes tribunal's plan to hear evidence against
them in their absence.
Berserkistan, June 26 · Bosnian Serbs in Crisis Over Serb Decree on Karadzic
June 25 · Colleagues Say that Karadzic Will Quit
INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from the United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia published by Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects from CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia from CalTech's Bosnia Site
Berserkistan World Links for more International Justice Resources
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