The Appeals Chamber has dismissed the appeal of the accused against the Trial Chamber’s decision to start the trial on 21 October 2009. The Appeals Chamber has ordered that the trial of the former president of Republika Srpska could start seven days after the accused has received the final version of the indictment. Since the prosecution was ordered to serve the indictment by 19 October 2009, the trial might finally open on Monday, 26 October 2009


After dismissing Karadzic’s appeal on the ‘Holbrooke agreement’ this morning, the Appeals Chamber tonight dismissed Karadzic’s motion to postpone his trial, tentatively scheduled to open on 21 October 2009. Tuesday the 13th’ obviously wasn’t Karadzic’s lucky day.

Rejecting all the arguments in the appeal seeking the postponement of Karadzic’s trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in BH from 1992 to 1995, the Appeals Chamber decided that the trial of the former Republika Srpska president could start seven days after the prosecution has served a new, final version of the indictment to the accused.

At the pre-trial conference on 6 October 2009, the Trial Chamber ordered that the prosecution should serve to the accused the final version of the indictment with all the appropriate amendments in accordance with the prosecution’s proposal of 31 August 2009 by 19 October 2009. In its reply to the Trial Chamber’s demand to cut down the indictment, the prosecution proposed in late August not to call evidence on crimes in ten BH municipalities and on some incidents listed in the indictment. The Trial Chamber accepted the proposal on 6 October 2009 when its attempt to induce the prosecution to make further cuts to the indictment proved to be in vain.

If the prosecution moves swiftly and serves the final version of the indictment tomorrow, the trial might open as scheduled on 21 October 2009. However, if the prosecution sticks to deadline imposed by the Trial Chamber, the trial will most likely start on 26 October 2009.

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