JURIST - Paper Chase: Karadzic refuses cross-examination as witness in war crimes trial of former ally

[JURIST] Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive] refused to answer questions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Wednesday about war crimes committed during the 1994 Yugoslav civil war at the appeals hearing of Momcilo Krajisnik [ICTY materials]. Krajisnick, a former Bosnian Serb parliamentary leader, is appealing a conviction [judgment summary, text] and 27-year prison sentence [judgment, PDF; JURIST report] handed down by the ICTY for various war crimes related to his role in atrocities committed against Croats and Muslims during the civil war. Karadzic had given written testimony in support of Karjisnik's appeal, but refused to be cross-examined [BBC report] on the grounds that such testimony could be harmful to his own case [JURIST news archive]. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Karadzic was arrested [JURIST report] in July after evading capture for nearly 13 years. He was originally indicted in 1995 but had been in hiding under an assumed identity as an alternative medicine practitioner [BBC report]. After he repeatedly refused to enter a plea on the charges, an ICTY judge eventually entering a not guilty plea [JURIST reports] on his behalf. In September, ICTY prosecutors filed a motion to amend Karadzic's indictment, seeking to narrow it with the intent of calling fewer witnesses at trial.

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