War crimes suspect Karadzic ‘to defend himself’ in court

Radovan Karadzic, who was arrested yesterday thirteen years after being indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes, plans on conducting his own defense in his trial.

Karadiz is charged with multiple counts of genocide due to his ordering the siege of Sarajevo and the killing of at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, during the Bosnian War.

He had been living in hiding in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, practicing alternative medicine. The arrest is being seen as a hallmark in Serbia's pursuit of European Union membership.

Editorials in the New York Times and the Washington Post commended the significance of Karadzic's arrest, saying that it should send an important signal about the impunity of war criminals to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, regarding his recent ICC indictment.