The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday suspended proceedings against Radovan Karadzic for a month so that he could consider a mass of fresh material which was recently disclosed to him by the prosecution.

Radovan Karadzic is the former President of Republika Srpska, head of the Serb Democratic Party and Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army.

He stands accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and other non-Serb civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war.

In rendering his decision, presiding judge O-Gon Kown said…”The chamber is of the view that the sheer volume of this material is such that it is in the interest of justice to suspend the proceedings temporarily”.

The Trial Chamber also took into consideration the significant number of violations by the prosecution of its obligations to disclose documents to the accused, which have been recorded by the Chamber in several decisions to date.

Judge O-Gon Kwon stated that the Trial Chamber was increasingly troubled by the potential cumulative effect of late disclosure on the overall fairness of the trial.

He urged the Office of the Prosecutor to take seriously its disclosure obligations and ensure that all necessary resources are dedicated to ensuring timely disclosure of material of the accused.

The suspension of the trial will start after witnesses scheduled for this week and those for next week already in The Hague or in transit, have been heard.