JURIST - Paper Chase: Karadzic asks ICTY for new war crimes trial

[JURIST] Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case summary, PDF; JURIST news archive] on Monday asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] for a new trial, accusing prosecutors of delaying the disclosure of crucial information. Karadzic is currently representing himself at trial. In his motion, he said that the prosecution failed to disclose crucial information [AFP report] until after the start of the trial. Karadzic currently faces 10 war crimes charges [indictment, PDF], including counts of genocide and murder, for crimes he allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He has been accused of participating in the planning of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], which resulted in the death of more than 8,000 Muslim men. Prosecutors in his case are also seeking to reinstate an additional genocide charge against Karadzic that was dismissed [JURIST reports] in June for lack of evidence.

In early June the judges from the ICTY went on a five-day visit [JURIST report] to locations relevant to the indictment of Karadzic. They visited BiH and Srebrenica and surrounding areas. This visit came just months after the ICTY sentenced [JURIST report] former president of the municipality of Sokolac, BiH, Milan Tupajic to two months in prison for refusing to testify against Karadzic. In February former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] accused [JURIST report] the ICTY of being biased. In January the ICTY accepted a plea deal [JURIST report], in the trial of the former case manager for Bosnian war criminal Milan Lukic, convicting her of five counts of contempt for procuring false witness statements. In December the ICTY convicted [JURIST report] former Yugoslav intelligence officer Dragomir Pecanac of contempt for failing to testify before the tribunal.