THE HAGUE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic challenged the jurisdiction of the United Nations war crimes court in The Hague on Friday and refused to enter pleas to the host of charges he faces.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic attends a hearing at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague August 29, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
"I'm deeply convinced that the court is representing itself falsely as a court of the international community while in fact it is a court of NATO whose aim is to liquidate me," Karadzic told the court Friday.
"It is therefore very hard for me to express my stand point on anything," he said while making his second appearance since being transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on July 30.
As this was the second time he refused to plead, the court automatically entered pleas of not guilty on his behalf to the charges. The 63-year-old former Bosnia Serb leader faces 11 counts of charges including genocide, war crimes and crime against humanity during the 1992-95 Bosnian War.
When asked to plead guilty or not guilty to the first charge of genocide, Karadzic said: "I will not plead in line with my stand point as regards this court."
British judge Iain Bonomy, who oversees the pre-trial proceedings of the case, asked Karadzic whether he took the same position on the remaining 10 charges.
"Absolutely," Karadzic said.
When Karadzic appeared the first time in court on July 31, he said that because the prosecutors were revising the indictment, he would like to respond to the charges of the new indictment rather than the current one.
On Friday, prosecutor Alain Tieger said the new indictment would not be ready until the last week of September.
He said the indictment, which was last updated in 2000, needs to be amended because a lot of new evidence emerged in the past eight years. He said the prosecution is trying its best to finish the amendment as soon as possible.
Judge Bonomy expressed disappointment at the lengthy preparation of the new indictment, which could affect the ICTY's plan to conduct trials expeditiously. He asked the prosecution to improve efficiency.
The judge then announced that the court was adjourned until September 17 when a status conference will be held. A status conference is a meeting of the prosecution, the defense and the pre-trial judges to discuss preparations for the trial.
As Karadzic decided to represent himself, he will be present at the meeting.
It is generally believed that it will take months before the trial of Karadzic starts.
During the 25-minute hearing on Friday, Karadzic reiterated his doubt about the ICTY's impartiality. He also asked the court to grant him the same resources as the prosecution in his preparation for defense.
Karadzic last week asked the hearings to be held in the Serbian language instead of English. He said he does not command English well enough to be able to defend himself properly.
But the ICTY turned down his request on Wednesday, saying it is too much work to translate the whole testimony into Serbian.
During the past month, Karadzic filed several motions to the court in which he repeatedly voiced disbelief that he could ever get a truly fair trial.
He said the prolonged international "media witch-hunt" of him, which the U.S. government contributed much to, "seriously jeopardizes the trial itself and excludes any possibility of regularity."
"What regularity can I expect when ... no one on earth believes in the possibility of an acquittal?" he wrote.
He said former U.S. assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke promised him immunity from prosecution by the court on behalf of the U.S. government, in return for his withdrawal from the public life. Holbrooke was the chief broker of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.
Karadzic said that when Holbrooke and the team behind him failed to fulfill the commitments, they tried to "liquidate" him.
Karadzic claimed that the trial can not be fair because U.S. officials are eager to see him dead and he has to prepare his defense while fearing for his life.
Holbrooke has denied the claims of Karadzic.
Karadzic was arrested last month in Serbia after 13 years on the run. The Serbian government was under enormous pressure from the European Union to arrest and transfer Karadzic, one of the few ICTY indictees still at large, to the court. Brussels has refused to start serious accession talks with Belgrade until the latter "fully cooperate with the ICTY."
Following his arrest, only two people indicted by the ICTY are still at large -- former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.
THE HAGUE, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused to enter pleas in the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague on Friday, saying he had serious doubts about the authority of the court. Full story
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Former Bosnian Serbleader Radovan Karadzic said at the United Nations war crimes court Thursday that he is gravely concerned about his life because the United States might be seeking to "liquidate" him. Full story
