By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) denied Radovan Karadzic’s appeal of a court-ordered appointment of an attorney to defend him in his impending war crimes case.

Mr. Karadzic, the former leader of Bosnian Serbs, requested that the ICTY, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal sitting in The Hague, allow him to replace his British court-appointed attorney, Richard Harvey, with a lawyer of his own “heritage and language”. Mr. Harvey became Mr. Karadzic’s attorney in November 2009 when Karadzic boycotted court proceedings and insisted on defending himself.

Mr. Karadzic alleged that he had the right to “legal assistance of his own choosing” under the Statute of the ICTY Article 21(4)(d) and under ICTY case law.

The ITCY, in a written opinion, dismissed the appeal “in its entirety” noting that “[t]he right to self-represent[ation] is not absolute and may be subject to certain limitations.” As such, Mr. Karadzic’s “persistent obstructive behaviour has made it necessary, in the interests of justice, to limit his right to self-representation by assigning counsel to represent his interests.”

Mr. Karazdic’s trial will resume on March 1, assuming no more appeal delays occur, in order to give Mr. Harvey ample time to prepare a defense. The ITCY wants to strictly comply with this trial date so as to avoid a repeat of the situation surrounding former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s trial. Mr. Milosevic died in his jail cell during the fourth year of his extended trial.

When it resumes, Mr. Karadzic will face eleven charges of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity for his role in the wars in Bosnia of the early 1990’s. Karadzic will likely face life in prison, especially if convicted of these crimes, which include a major role in the Srebrenica massacre that left 7,000 Bosnian Muslims dead.

According to Jurist, Mr. Karadzic’s trial will be the ITCY’s last.

For more inforation, please see:

BBC – Karadzic lawyer appeal rejected by ICTY – 12 February 2010

JURIST – ICTY dismisses Karadzic appeal of court-appointed lawyer – 12 February 2010

REUTERS – War crimes court rejects Karadzic appeal on lawyer – 12 February 2010