UK Lawyer Richard Harvey to Represent Karadzic at Hague Trial

Briton Richard Harvey, QC, has been appointed Friday to represent Radovan Karadzic if he continues to boycott his trial at the Hague.

The Hague Tribunal has ordered the trial to resume on March 1, 2010. If the Bosnian-Serb leader continues to refuse to attend his trail, Harvey will now be expected to represent Karadzic.

The lawyer has experience of the International Criminal Court, having previously defended the former head of the Kosovo Liberation Army on war crimes charges.

Harvey is best known in the UK for his involvement in the Bloody Sunday enquiry, where he represented the family of James Wray, killed by the British army.

A spokesman said that Karadzic had spoken to Harvey before his appointment, and that he had admitted he has “absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the case”, and that he was “unlikely to be ready by March 1”.

Although he has no legal training, Karadzic had been representing himself with the help of legal advisers. He had appeared alone in court at all pretrial hearings, but demanded more time to prepare for the full trial proceedings.

Hague prosecutors allege in an 11-count indictment that Karadzic masterminded Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-1995 Bosnian war; he insists on his innocence.