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Thursday, November 5, 2009

More drama at the ICTY: bring on the popcorn for the Karadzic trial!

In the latest episode of the trial, the ICTY Trial Chamber just decided to appoint counsel to Karadzic following a first week of trial where he chose not to attend the proceedings on account of not having had enough time to prepare... and to postpone the commencement of trial until march. Moreover:
In the present circumstances, considering the fundamental nature of the right to selfrepresentation, which cannot be diminished lightly, and in accordance with the principle of proportionality, the Trial Chamber finds it necessary to instruct the Registrar to appoint counsel, who will begin immediately to prepare him or herself to represent the interests of the Accused when the trial resumes, if that should be required. Notwithstanding the appointment of counsel for this specific purpose, the Accused will continue to represent himself, including by dealing with the day-to-day matters that arise, such as the filing of motions and responses to motions filed by the Prosecution, and further preparing himself for the trial.
the defendant will therefore continue to defend himself (even at the recommencement of trial), the counsel only coming in if there is further obstruction...

We won't go into the legal technicalities of the issues, dealt with elsewhere. Just a few comments.
If I'm undestanding this correctly, their refusal to allocate more time to the defendant led him to refusing to attend his trial, therefore crossing the judges who, to punish him, give me an extra four months for his appointed counsel to prepare for trial, while still allowing Karadzic to continue representing himself for the time-being, thus somewhat giving him what he asked for in the first place... makes sense.
Moreover, this does not really solve the issue of his presence at trial. The drafters of the ICTY Statute decided not to have trials in abstentia. One can argue the pros and cons of that (I would actually be in favour of having those... blame my French legal training... more on this some other time...). But that's the situation right now. Given that, contrary to the ICTR, the ICTY did not adopt a rule allowing it to proceed in the absence of the accused, I don't really see on what basis they would continue the trial even with an appointed counsel. The decision seems to suggest that the defendant might forfeit his right to be present by refusing to be present. This is the reasoning behind in abstentia trials and cannot be sustained here (argument in absurdum here, but if this is the case, let's apply it to Mladic and start his trial tomorrow). Karadzic did not say "go ahead guys, i can't be bothered attending". He is making a procedural statement (if a somewhat overdramatic one) on the fair conduct of proceedings. That is not the same as forfeiting his right to attend.
More generally, whatever the position one adopts on this issue, the chamber has put itself between a PR rock and a communications hard place. What kind of mixed message is it sending out, by trying to be tough, and then by threatening the defendant with what he asked for? On the other hand, this is a semantic way of sorts to save face. They couldn't really say "ok, you win this time, but be careful, we're watching you", which is in effect what they have done.

And now, bow your heads and let's have one minute silence for the completion strategy...

8 comments:

  1. When justice meets diplomacy... it looks stupid. Can they really take the risk of another hunger strike?

    ReplyDelete
  2. No chance F: when they arrested the good Doctor, he had not eaten a thing for 11 days and his health was perfect. The guru has tied his own rope, no hunger strikes for him, they don't affect him... I mean clearly when you look at good ol' Seselj with his fat belly and drunkard red nose, you just know the man cannot go without his daily dose of cholesterol but Dr Dragan Dabic is a spiritual being, clearly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. you read my mind, Anonymous! Can they take the risk of a very very very long hunger strike, on the part of a man who makes a living out of "brain over matter"? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case
    posted ‎‎Oct 5, 2009 10:02 AM‎‎ by Jill Starr [ updated 21 hours ago‎‎ ]


    Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot
    Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case

    This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr karadzic and
    others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

    Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states
    instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as
    with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United
    Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts
    for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in
    Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and
    others.

    I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to
    establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal
    corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of
    legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND
    judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

    Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country’s proposal was
    not taken to well by the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud
    and noticably strongly vocal manner, “Spain (my country) strongly believes if we
    contribute most financial support to the Hague’s highest court, that ought to give us and
    other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its
    decisions.”

    ((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative
    from Spain for even bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for
    international judicial verdicts and judicial appointments, all country representatives
    present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a ”totally legitimate
    topic” discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!
    The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."

    Some countries agreed with Spain’s propositions while others did not. The point here is,
    bribery for judicial verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate
    topic instead of an illegitimate toic which it is in the meeting that I
    attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent
    international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

    In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading
    financial funding the ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts
    in front of every other UN member state present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have
    already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was "socially acceptable" for
    conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and ICC
    before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student.

    SPAIN's diplomatic gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is,
    disgusting morally!

    SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN "INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remind everyone, when I attended those ICC Preparatory Meetings in 2001, witnessing
    first hand the country plenipotentiary representatives present with me discussing so
    openly, trading judicial funding of a new international criminal court, for its direct
    judicial appointments and judicial verdicts, those same state powers were

    concurrently,

    those same countries and people were already simultaneously, funding the already
    established ICTY which was issuing at that time, arrest warrants for Bosnian Serbs
    under false primary diplomatic pretenses.

    The ICTY and ICC is just where it should be for once.
    Cornered and backed into and an international wall, scared like a corned animal (and I
    bet it reacts in the same way a rabid cornered animal does too in such circumstances).
    (ICTY associates)


    I believe strongly that ICYU assocaites murdered former Serb President, Slobodan

    Milosevic, tried to murder
    me, as well and other Serbs prisoners and presently places , Doctor Radovan Karadzic’s
    life in direct danger as well as Ratko Mladic’s life in danger should he be brought there.

    The ICTY has no other choice than to halt all further court proceedings against, Doctor
    Radovan Karadzic, and others there both serving sentences and awaiting trials.
    Miss JIll Louise Starr (The UN Security Council has no choice but to act on this now).

    I accuse the Hague ICTY war crimes tribunal of attempted assassination on my life and

    others, contempt of court and obstruction of international justice and "international

    witness tampering" in complicity with Richard Holbrook and Bill Clinton (Former US

    President of the USA) as well as political playersin Spain and the Netherlands .

    I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic’s
    absence in those meetings and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia’s behalf.

    ==================================================================================
    United States :

    We’ve all become closely acquainted with the concepts of impunity, international law, social justice, and both licit and illicit equity within the framework of judiciary constructs.

    And as such, I’ve been sitting all alone here in my room for seemingly endless years, merely contemplating these and other questions crucially important to the conceptual role of international criminal justice:

    1) Many news media presenters argue certain leaders of political parties and organized crime syndications are “arrogant,” for believing they themselves are above the rule of law.

    However, the award for winning the Olympic Gold Metal of being ‘Mother of All Arrogance’ has just be captured by Hague’s Highest Legal Entity, the newly constructed International Criminal Court.

    2) This entity shamelessly and explicity proclaims its own impunity from international justice while increasing its push moving forward in prosecuting others for identical crimes itself commits. It flaunts its diplomatic immunity as if it were the President of the most powerful country on earth. Claiming to rival the powers of the Queen of England and the Holy See.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What It’s Like to Chill Out With Whom the World Considers The Most
    Ruthless Men : Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Goran Hadzic
    Confessions of a Female War Crimes Investigator

    Retrospectively, it was all so simple, natural and matter of fact being on a boat
    restaurant in Belgrade, sitting with, laughing, drinking a two hundred bottle of wine and

    chatting about war and peace while Ratko Mladic held my hand. Mladic, a man

    considered the world’s most ruthless war criminal since Adolf Hitler, still at large and

    currently having a five million dollar bounty on his head for genocide by the

    international community. Yet there I was with my two best friends at the time, a former

    Serbian diplomat, his wife, and Ratko Mladic just chilling. There was no security,

    nothing you’d ordinarily expect in such circumstances. Referring to himself merely as,

    Sharko; this is the story of it all came about.

    ReplyDelete
  7. http://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite/what-it-s-like-to-chill-out-with-whom-the-rest-of-the-world-considers-as-the-most-ruthless-men-in-the-world-ratko-mladic-and-radovan-karadzic-confessions-of-a-female-war-crimes-investigator

    ReplyDelete
  8. Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case
    picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa/
    (The Documentary Secret United Nations ICC Meeting Papers Scanned Images)

    This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr Karadzic and others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

    Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and others.

    I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

    Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country’s proposal was not taken to well by the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud and noticably strongly vocal manner, “Spain (my country) strongly believes if we contribute most financial support to the Hague’s highest court, that ought to give us and other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its decisions.”

    ((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative from Spain for even bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for international judicial verdicts and judicial appointments, all country representatives present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a ”totally legitimate topic” discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!
    The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."

    Some countries agreed with Spain’s propositions while others did not. The point here is, bribery for judicial verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate topic instead of an illegitimate toic which it is in the meeting that I attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

    In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading financial funding the ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts in front of every other UN member state present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was "socially acceptable" for conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and
    ICC before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student. SPAIN's diplomatic gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is, disgusting morally!

    SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN
    "INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."
    I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic’s absence in those meetings and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia’s behalf.

    ReplyDelete