prijava
THE HAGUE, April 25 (FENA) - The second-instance verdict in trial of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadžić, who appealed against his conviction this week, is likely to be delivered by the end of the year.
Theodor Meron, chairman of the appeals chamber of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, said on Wednesday that it was “our intention, although it is not a definitive goal, to have the verdict ready by the end of 2018” in the Radovan Karadžić case.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found Karadžić guilty in March 2016 of genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorizing the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, BIRN reports.
But at appeals hearings in The Hague earlier this week, Karadžić called for the verdict to be quashed because the facts were wrong, and for a retrial to be ordered.
Meanwhile the prosecutors asked the court to find Karadžić guilty of genocide in seven other Bosnian municipalities as well as Srebrenica, and increase his sentence to life imprisonment.
During a hearing on the status of the proceedings on Wednesday, Karadžić told Meron in the courtroom that “my health has been fully taken care of” since previous complaints of illness were addressed.
He said that his health is now “quite satisfactory”, and that he is “feeling much better”.
The former Bosnian Serb leader had complained in November 2016 that that his health, which he said was once “perfect”, had “deteriorated significantly” since he was taken to the UN detention unit.
Karadžić also said on Wednesday that in general, he had no complaints about the living conditions at the court’s detention unit.
He expressed satisfaction with the fact that his request for a laptop has been fulfilled, and asked the court again to consider the possibility of giving him limited internet access.
Meron said Karadžić’s request to be allowed to communicate via Skype was being considered as well.
Karadžić has been held in detention in The Hague since July 2008, when the Serbian authorities extradited him to the Tribunal.
(FENA) S. R.
