Karadzic Counsel Takes Issue With Disclosure
Judge says prosecution should respond promptly to any reasonable defence requests for assistance.
Karadzic Counsel Takes Issue With Disclosure
Judge says prosecution should respond promptly to any reasonable defence requests for assistance.
The standby counsel appointed to former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic’s case at the Hague tribunal has complained about how the prosecution has disclosed material to his team, documents released this week show.
“The OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] failed to provide vitally important aids to understanding the prosecution case until February 13,” wrote the standby counsel, British barrister Richard Harvey, in a letter dated February 25 but only released this week.
Last November, judges appointed Harvey to serve as standby counsel after Karadzic – who represents himself – boycotted the start of his trial in late October. The trial was subsequently delayed until March 1 to give Harvey time to prepare.
Judges said that the standby counsel would only take over the case if Karadzic further obstructed the proceedings or refused to participate, and thus Harvey’s role in the trial is yet to be determined.
In his submission, Harvey also addressed other aspects of the disclosure process that he was finding problematic, many of which were very technical in nature. In response, the prosecution stated on March 4 that they “effected disclosure to Mr Harvey in good faith and as quickly as possible following his assignment” and that they tried to go about the process in an “organised and accessible manner”.
The prosecution also contended that while there had been a few administrative errors, some of Harvey’s requests, such as providing certain materials on CD or external hard drive, are not possible because they would require a “diversion of resources” and place an “unnecessary burden” on the prosecution.
In a reply on March 8, Harvey wrote that it is “acceptable that the OTP would need to undertake some additional work to provide standby counsel with relevant documents in a user-friendly format”.
“As a matter of proportionality and equality of arms, we note that the OTP has been preparing the case against Dr Karadzic for many years, whereas the standby counsel has been asked to prepare in a few weeks,” Harvey said.
On March 23, judges said that they would not order the prosecution to re-disclose potentially exonerating materials on CD and external hard drive, describing it as an “onerous task”.
The judges said that while they would not order the prosecution to take any “particular course of action”, it should “promptly and diligently respond to any reasonable requests for assistance … which may mean in some circumstances going beyond what is strictly required by the relevant rules on disclosure”.
While Karadzic did appear in court on March 1 to deliver his opening statements, the trial is currently on hold while appeals judges consider his request to postpone the proceedings further until June.
Karadzic, the president of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996, is accused of planning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which about 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were killed. He is also charged with overseeing the siege of Sarajevo that left nearly 12,000 people dead.
The indictment – which lists 11 counts in total – alleges that he was responsible for crimes of genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and forcible transfer which “contributed to achieving the objective of the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnian Serb-claimed territory”.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
