Radovan Karadzic Verdict Due by End of 2018

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 Karadzic case.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found Karadzic guilty in March 2016 of genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

But at appeals hearings in The Hague earlier this week, Karadzic 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 Karadzic guilty of genocide in seven other Bosnian municipalities as well as Srebfrenica, and increase his sentence to life imprisonment.

During a hearing on the status of the proceedings on Wednesday, Karadzic told Meron in the courtroom that “my health has been fully taken care of” since previous complaints of illness were addressed.

He said 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.

Karadzic 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 Karadzic’s request to be allowed to communicate via Skype was being considered as well.

Karadzic has been held in detention in The Hague since July 2008, when the Serbian authorities extradited him to the UN Tribunal.