(RTTNews) - Former Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic attended his war crimes trial at the UN court in The Hague, Netherlands, for the first time on Tuesday after boycotting the first two sessions. In his first appearance at the trial, Karadzic reiterated his demand for more time to prepare his defense.

"I do not want to boycott these proceedings, but I cannot take part in something that has been bad from the start and where my fundamental rights have been violated," Karadzic told the court on Tuesday.

However, the presiding judge, O-Gon Kwon, ruled that the court had already determined that the defendant had enough time to prepare his defense, signaling that the court is unlikely to grant him any more time. The judge then adjourned the session, saying that would rule later in the week on how the trial would proceed.

"Clearly you disagree with these decisions," Judge Kwon told Karadzic. "However, as I previously stated to you, it is the trial chamber, not an accused person, which determines readiness for trial."

Karadzic is representing himself at the trial with the help of U.S. attorney Peter Robinson. The former Bosnian Serb leader had boycotted the initial hearings of his trial early last week, claiming that he needs more time to prepare his defense as he has to prepare it after studying millions of pages of prosecution documents.
Following Kardizic's boycott of the opening session on his trial on 26th October, Judge O-Gon Kwon warned the next day that Karadzic must "accept the consequences" if he chooses not to exercise his right to be present at the trial. The judge said the court could consider assigning a lawyer for the former Bosnian Serb leader if he continues to boycott proceedings.

In its opening statement made last Tuesday, the prosecution described Karadzic as "supreme commander" of a campaign of ethnic cleansing during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Prosecutor Alain Tieger told the court that Karadzic had "harnessed the forces of nationalism, hatred and fear to implement his vision of an ethnically separated Bosnia."

Karadzic faces 11 counts of war crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including the 1995 genocide of some 8,000 Muslim boys and men in the eastern town of Srebrenica.

Karadzic was arrested in July 2008 in Belgrade, ending a 13-year-long run from the law after the International Criminal Court indicted him on war crime charges in 1996. Karadzic, who faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted by the UN court, has denied all charges.

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