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Tribunal Prosecutors Charge Karadzic, Mladic with Massive Ethnic Cleansing Start of Seven-Day Hearing is Delayed by Removal of Defence Attorney from Courtroom
More than a dozen victims and witnesses will testify over seven days against the two separatist Bosnian Serb leaders, the U.N. criminal tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia's two most wanted men.
But neither Karadzic nor his military henchman will be in the dock. Accused of atrocities during the three-year siege of Sarajevo and the bloody Serb assault on the U.N. "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, both men remain free in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale.
Ostberg said the tribunal was frustrated at its failure to deter war crimes and made a plea that Karadzic, Mladic and others accused of war crimes be surrendered to the tribunal. "Let it be known that the prosecution...wants to try the accused here, in this courtroom, in The Hague," he said in his opening address.
The tribunal said it resorted to its so-called Rule 61 hearing -- which is not a trial in absentia, but which allows prosecutors to present evidence against those charged but not arrested -- due to the failure of authorities in the former Yugoslavia to execute arrest warrants against the accused.
The public hearing was delayed when a tribunal judge barred Karadzic's attorney from sitting in the courtroom. Belgrade attorney Igor Pantelic had asked to be allowed to attend the proceedings to see prosecution evidence "with a view to preparing a possible defence." Judge Claude Jorda told him that under tribunal rules, defence counsel could not attend so-called Rule 61 hearings, but that a seat would be reserved for him in the public gallery.
Pantelic told reporters he would remain in The Hague as an observer but would no longer represent Karadzic in this case. "I am completely disappointed with the (tribunal's) approach in connection with the human rights of one of the accused," he said, adding that the tribunal lacked the courage to accept his presence as Karadzic's agent in court.
The public hearings do not amount to a trial in absentia, but allow prosecutors to present evidence against those charged but not arrested. Karadzic and Mladic are accused of leading a brutal campaign of "ethnic cleansing" and murder in the 3½ year Bosnian war.
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THE HAGUE, June 27 (Reuters) - Prosecutors at a U.N. tribunal on Thursday accused Bosnian Serb leaders of orchestrating a massive and systematic campaign of "ethnic cleansing" during the Bosnian war, resulting in the deaths of thousands of victims. "I do not hesitate to add the name of Srebrenica...to a list of the most horrendous, unimaginable war crimes since the end of World War Two," Swedish prosecutor Eric Ostberg told the first day of a public hearing against Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, both accused of genocide.
Berserkistan, June 27 · Nine Charged by Tribunal in Lasva Valley Massacre
Berserkistan, June 26 · Karadzic, Mladic Dispatch a Lawyer to the Tribunal
INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
War Crimes Profile: Dusan Tadic
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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