Friday, August 01, 2008
Karadžić in court
I would have been with everyone a bit more, but my ankle was acting up. Yesterday I tried to leave the flat, and got about a block away, and my ankle was hurting a little, so I turned back rather than go any further. It isn't wise to push oneself in those circumstances....
That meant I watched the entire first appearance at The Hague.
Karadžić looked tired, but he said his health was perfect. He also accused Holbrook of trying to kill him, and had lots to say about the alleged irregularities of his arrest. Funny how tyrants turn into avid civil libertarians!
He had far more due process than anyone in Srebenica!
I could see that the judge is one of those very cultured English people, a very decent man. I hope he knows how to get respect!
It was an interesting thing to watch.
Tuesday, the demonstrations against Karadžić being sent to The Hague started off peaceful. My personal favorite was the Serbian bagpipe player that showed up, actually a bunch of them did, and the combination of bagpipes and car-horns was SOMETHING! Glad I wasn't there!
Later demonstrations got ugly...something like 47 people were injured, of whom 26 were police. Given how riot police in this part of the world suit up, that is a high number!
Film of this was shown last night. Again, glad I was nowhere near the place!
The news last night also had that there were two mass graves found which had Serbian war victims.
And in a piece of good news, The authorities in the HNK area got a portable incinerator to use on sheep that had to be euthanised or that died of brucellosis. They showed this ultra-efficient little machine at work.
Much better than risking the water table by burying the dead animals, and in HNK the brucellosis situation is under control. This has been very serious. People can get brucellosis, so can all sorts of animals. Having pits to bury dead animals is a totally inadequate measure. Still must admit the machine creeped me out!
That meant I watched the entire first appearance at The Hague.
Karadžić looked tired, but he said his health was perfect. He also accused Holbrook of trying to kill him, and had lots to say about the alleged irregularities of his arrest. Funny how tyrants turn into avid civil libertarians!
He had far more due process than anyone in Srebenica!
I could see that the judge is one of those very cultured English people, a very decent man. I hope he knows how to get respect!
It was an interesting thing to watch.
Tuesday, the demonstrations against Karadžić being sent to The Hague started off peaceful. My personal favorite was the Serbian bagpipe player that showed up, actually a bunch of them did, and the combination of bagpipes and car-horns was SOMETHING! Glad I wasn't there!
Later demonstrations got ugly...something like 47 people were injured, of whom 26 were police. Given how riot police in this part of the world suit up, that is a high number!
Film of this was shown last night. Again, glad I was nowhere near the place!
The news last night also had that there were two mass graves found which had Serbian war victims.
And in a piece of good news, The authorities in the HNK area got a portable incinerator to use on sheep that had to be euthanised or that died of brucellosis. They showed this ultra-efficient little machine at work.
Much better than risking the water table by burying the dead animals, and in HNK the brucellosis situation is under control. This has been very serious. People can get brucellosis, so can all sorts of animals. Having pits to bury dead animals is a totally inadequate measure. Still must admit the machine creeped me out!
# posted by Katja R. @ 2:36 AM 
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Judge Alphons Orie, who oversaw the accused's initial appearance, will also be the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber apppointed to try Karadzic. As you noted, he's a good judge -- judicious, even-tempered, and very much on top of things. But although his English is very good, he's in fact Dutch (not English). The other two judges who will join him on the bench once the trial gets underway are also among the Tribunal's best: Flavia Lattanzi, an Italian judge who's currently also sitting on the Seselj case, and Christine van den Wyngaert, a Belgian judge who has also tried a number of important and difficult cases and has also served on the Tribunal's appeals chamber.
András
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András
# posted by 
: 7:30 AM
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