World news karadzic war crimes trial

The war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic resumed Tuesday in The Hague with the former president of the Bosnian Serbs questioning the prosecution's first witness-a Bosnian Muslim who was a prisoner in a Serb-run detention camp in the early war years. Karadzic is defending himself against genocide charges and nine other counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Yugoslav War crimes tribunal. Six months after the Karadzic trial began, prosecutors were finally able to call their first witness.

Ahmet Zulic did not look at Karadzic as he took his place in the witness stand. Zulic testified how at the start of the war in April , anti-Muslim rhetoric increased, the movement of non-Serbs was restricted, and Muslims and Croats were told to hand over their weapons after the Serb takeover of the area.

But that was just the start. Zulic testified that shortly after, his father-in-law was burned to death in his bed following an attack on his village that killed others. He recalled seeing about 20 men forced to dig their own graves before being shot or having their throats slit.

And he described, through an interpreter, the beatings he received while he was a prisoner in a Serb detention camp - meted out by almost anyone.

If the children came by, they would train karate and we had to do pushups and some would kick in one part of our body until we were unconscious," he said. Zulic's testimony was emotional, and he is still disabled from the beatings that he says broke his ribs, vertebrae, arms and fingers. Although he did not accuse Karadzic of those crimes, prosecutors hold him responsible for orchestrating what they say was a plan to create an ethnically pure Serbian state in Bosnia.

Karadzic denies all the charges. Two other Muslims who also allowed the Red Cross to examine them were beaten to death, Zulic said. Although Zulic did not mention Karadzic in the early part of his testimony, prosecutors allege the former Bosnian Serb leader orchestrated the plan and their ability to link him to well-documented Bosnian Serb crimes is key to proving their case.

Karadzic's case is the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal's most important since former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic died in his jail cell in before judges at the UN court could reach a verdict in his trial.

The cases cover many of the same atrocities. At the outset of Tuesday's hearing, judges warned Karadzic they would not tolerate him taking hours to cross-examine witnesses as Milosevic often did during his four-year trial.

But when he began cross-examining Zulic, Karadzic immediately tested the patience of presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon by asking the witness if he knew a string of people in Sanski Most — even asking if there were people he did not know. Karadzic told judges he did not plan to testify in his own defence, depriving prosecutors of the opportunity to cross-examine him about his activities during the war.

The first day of testimony came months after his trial started in October with the prosecutor's opening statement. Karadzic boycotted that hearing to protest what he claimed was lack of time to prepare his defence against the count indictment. Zulic did not look at Karadzic as he entered court. His new home will be a 15 square metre cell identical to the one in which Milosevic spent the last five years of his life listening to Frank Sinatra songs and planning his defence. The cells exceed international standards for space, lighting and facilities and resemble college dormitory rooms with a toilet, washbasin, shelves, a television and a table.

In the latest twist to Karadzic's undercover existence, an Austrian newspaper reported that he also worked in Vienna as a "miracle healer". The Kurier daily quoted a married couple as saying that Karadzic called himself Pera and saw patients in the homes of Serbians living in the Austrian capital.

The couple, whose names were altered by the newspaper to protect their identity, said they sought his services to help them conceive. Kurier reported that the couple first met Karadzic in mid and last heard from him over a year ago. The paper said he apparently lived with Serbian families while in the Austrian capital and only stayed up to three days at a time.

The real Dragan Dabic, a year construction worker, has found himself besieged by the media.