Few people expected Radovan Karadzic to show up to the start of his trial on Monday. He had already announced his intention not to attend a few days earlier in a written submission to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The former President of the Serb Republic in Bosnia stayed away to protest the fact that he hadn't been given more time to prepare his case. The pre-trial and appeals chambers rejected his request for a 10-month postponement earlier this month.

By Sebastiaan Gottlieb

As he opened the trial in Courtroom 1 of the ICTY, Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon saw only empty seats where the defence team should be and quickly decided to adjourn the trial until the next day. ”We will start with reading the opening statement,” he said, “and we request Mr. Karadzic to attend, so that his trial is not further obstructed.”

Judging by his gentle approach, Kwon is hoping to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Karadzic.

This could be because of what has been until now a cooperative relationship between Karadzic and the tribunal. This is in stark contrast to the earlier trials of the late Slobodan Milosevic and enfant terrible Vojislav Seselj, who made obstructing and frustrating the tribunal their primary business. Kwon’s good faith in Karadzic may also come from a letter the defendant sent to the court stating that he “will never boycott his own trial” and hoping the court would find “a fair solution.”

117 members of victims’ rights group the Mothers of Srebrenica attended the first day of trial in The Hague. They represent the families of the more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys killed during the Srebenica genocide in 1995. They were shocked by the judge’s soft approach and when Kwon announced the court’s adjournment, they stood up in the public gallery and shouted with frustration.

Once they left the courtroom they expressed their anger to the international press that thronged to the first day of trial.

“I just don’t understand why the court didn’t force him to come,” said one woman. “He was in hiding for 14 years, now he should finally show himself to us.”

Trial watchers at the ICTY in The Hague see Karadzic’s absence as a ritual contest between the court and the accused. Michael Wladimiroff who represented Duso Tadic, the first person to be convicted by the ICTY, said: “I expect Karadzic to turn up in the courtroom once the first witnesses are presented by the prosecution. He will not attend the opening statement because there is nothing to win there for him.”

Wladimiroff has been right so far: Karadzic didn’t attend the postponed opening of the trial on Tuesday when the charges against him were presented by the prosecution.
 

Whether Wladimiroff is also right that Karadzic will show up at a later time, remains to be seen.

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