Radovan Karadzic opened his defence at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on March 1st – four months later than scheduled – only to have the trial postponed once again two days later.

By Hermione Gee

This new delay comes from an appeal Karadzic submitted, asking for more time to prepare. In October, the registrar ruled that Karadzic was only entitled to funds for one legal assistant. This was overturned last month but Karadzic says his team lost valuable preparation time and needs a postponement. When the court said no, Karadzic appealed and judge O-Gon Kwon ruled that the trial would be delayed pending a decision.

It was a small victory for the defence, but, says Karadzic’s legal advisor, Peter Robinson, it’s been an uphill struggle all the way: “The registrar is totally prejudiced against people who represent themselves and the experience they’ve had with Milosovic probably is the reason for that.”

ICTY defence counsel Wayne Jordash agrees: “I don’t think the institution is being very upfront about its own hostility to Karadzic’s self-representation. There’s a general assumption that anybody who [exercises] their right to self-representation is doing so to be obstructive.” This means, he says, that any delay in proceedings is attributed to the accused when, often, it’s due to the size of the prosecution case.

But, says former ICTY chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone, the practical problems raised by self-representation cannot be ignored. When appointing standby counsel, for example, Goldstone says, “I fully agree that the defendant should be consulted...The problem is that it is highly unlikely that the defendant will agree to the appointment let alone participate in choosing who they should be.”

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