While the accused Karadzic believes that his case is proceeding at ‘unprecedented speed’ the judge notes that the case hasn’t moved forward since Karadzic’s arrest and transfer to The Hague


It took only 13 minutes to complete the status conference in the Radovan Karadzic case today, because the accused said he was ‘not ready’ to discuss anything. Because of ‘a visit and other things to do’, Karadzic didn’t have time to take a look at the new amended indictment he received yesterday in BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian).

Karadzic again objected to the ‘rushing’ of his case, as he sees it; this has resulted in the ‘inequality of arms’. Karadzic still doesn’t have ‘the infrastructure, resources and a defense team’, he said. Judge Bonomy, on the other side, was ‘surprised’ by Karadzic’s objection since he expected Karadzic to be disappointed by the dragging out of the case. It has been three months since Karadzic’s arrest and transfer to The Hague and the case has not moved forward from the discussion about the indictment. As regards Karadzic’s objections about the lack of ‘infrastructure and resources’ and difficulties in setting up his defense team, the judge reminded the accused that the decision to represent himself before the court was his own. Such a choice ‘brings with it certain problems you will have to deal with on your own’, the judge pointed.

Karadzic was not the only one to have come unprepared for the status conference today, Judge Bonomy said. So was prosecutor Tieger, who was unable to specify how many documents from the supporting material attached to the amended indictment had yet to be disclosed to the accused. Obviously annoyed by not getting such ‘straightforward information’ the judge adjourned the status conference, telling the prosecutor to check this and come back when he’s done. The prosecutor returned after five minutes and said that four documents, comprising a total of 60 pages, remained to be disclosed to the accused. The BCS versions of those documents will be given to the accused by Thursday or Friday at the latest, Tieger said. When Karadzic receives all documents he will have 14 days to file his objections to the prosecutor’s motion to amend the indictment.

The next status conference in Karadzic’s case is scheduled for Tuesday, 20 January 2009.

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