ICTY rules prosecution may amend Karadzic indictment News
ICTY rules prosecution may amend Karadzic indictment

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Monday granted in part [decision, PDF; press release] the prosecution's motion [text, PDF; JURIST report] to amend the indictment against former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive]. Karadzic is now charged with two counts of genocide instead of one, with the first count referring to the crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 and the second count referring to the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Charges of complicity in genocide and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions have been dropped. The tribunal denied the prosecution's motion to add other charges for killings, finding they were not adequately supported by evidence. The prosecution must now file an amended indictment by Wednesday at noon. Karadzic is scheduled to appear before the tribunal Friday to enter a new plea.

Last month, Karadzic responded to the prosecution's motion by filing his own motion [motion, PDF] requesting that the ICTY amend his indictment [JURIST report] in order to expedite his trial. Karadzic said that he supports the principle of amending the indictment but that the prosecution's proposed amendments would not be much better. In arguing for a shorter indictment, Karadzic drew parallels to the trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive], whose lengthy trial was criticized when he died of a heart attack [JURIST report] in prison after his trial had been ongoing for four years.

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