Karadzic uses the Bush line of defense

[Happy Face 29]

Former leader Radovan Karadzic has said the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was "just and holy" as he began his defence at his genocide trial at The Hague.

 

Mr Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs during the war in the 1990s, said there was a core group of Muslims in Bosnia - then and now - who wanted 100% power.

 

Speaking in The Hague, he insisted the Serbs were only acting in self-defence.

 

He insists he is innocent of all 11 charges from the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including genocide and war crimes.

 

The trial had been adjourned since November and the judge rejected a new request for a further postponement.

 

'Mere mortal'

 

Mr Karadzic, 64, suspended his boycott and appeared in court along with his lawyer on Monday as the trial resumed.

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Matt Cole, BBC News, The Hague

When he stepped into court one, Radovan Karadzic appeared relaxed and controlled. He smiled and joked with his legal team, throwing back his head, with its silver mane of hair, as he laughed.

 

Looking out over the top of his glasses, the former Bosnian Serb leader began his defence in typically flamboyant style, welcoming "active and passive" participants to his trial.

 

The 64-year-old remained seated as he began to outline his case at pace. He spoke so fast at times the red-robed lead judge, O-Gon Kwon, had to ask him to slow down for the interpreters translating his words to the watching world.

 

Mr Karadzic appeared to slow a fraction before continuing with a confident zeal, outlining a defence that claimed his people were under attack from Bosnian Muslims. He told the tribunal "their conduct gave rise to our conduct, and that is 100% true

".

 

"I will defend that nation of ours and their cause that is just and holy," Mr Karadzic said in translated comments at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

 

"I stand here before you not to defend the mere mortal that I am, but to defend the greatness of a small nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which for 500 years has had to suffer and has demonstrated a great deal of modesty and perseverance to survive in freedom," he told the court.

 

"We have a good case. We have good evidence and proof."

 

After his initial remarks, Mr Karadzic began laying out a detailed account of the events that led up to the outbreak of the war.

 

The wartime leader is trying to show that there was no joint criminal enterprise - no plan or plot - to carry out the genocide or "ethnic cleansing", but that Serbs were only defending themselves from Muslim aggression, says the BBC's Dominic Hughes at the trial.

 

'War trick'

 

Mr Karadzic pointed to one defining event of the 44-month siege of Sarajevo - the 1994 attack on a market in which nearly 70 people died - saying it was a stage-managed "trick" for which Serbian forces were falsely blamed.

 

Mr Karadzic showed the court pictures of an empty marketplace, claiming it was the scene shortly before, as he put it, hundreds appeared and the attack was reported.

 

He is expected to present a two-day opening statement before prosecutors present their first witness on Wednesday.

 

Mr Karadzic faces two charges of genocide - including the killing in Srebrenica of more than 7,000 men and boys - as well as nine other counts including murder, extermination, persecution and forced deportation.

 

Prosecutors say he orchestrated a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against Muslims and Croats in eastern Bosnia to create an ethnically pure Serbian state.

 

In his opening statement last October, prosecutor Alan Tieger said Mr Karadzic "harnessed the forces of nationalism, hatred and fear to pursue his vision of an ethnically segregated Bosnia".

 

Mr Karadzic had boycotted the proceedings, insisting on more time to prepare his case.

 

In November, the court appointed British lawyer Richard Harvey to take over the defence if he continued his boycott.

 

Mr Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in 2008 after nearly 13 years on the run.

 

During his time in power, he was president of the self-styled Bosnian Serb Republic and commander of its army during the Bosnian conflict which left more than 100,000 people dead.

 

He is the most significant figure to face justice at this tribunal since the former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, who died of a heart attack in 2006 before his own trial was concluded.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8542297.stm

 

"This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."

 

"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did"

 

"we know that God is not neutral"

[NJS 4446]

I first read of the religious element to the conflict in Hitchens' God is not great and thought he was probably oversimplifying it for effect - much like even I know that Northern Ireland isn't as simple as Catholic Versus Protestant - but the more I read about, the more I think that angle is fair.