LIANE HANSEN, host:
Former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic goes on trial in the Hague tomorrow. He faces 11 counts of war crimes during the 1992 to 1995 Bosnian War, including genocide for the siege of Sarajevo that claimed 10,000 lives. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli will be covering the trial and joins us from Rome. Hi, Sylvia.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Hi, Liane.
HANSEN: Even before the trial starts, it could be in jeopardy. The defendant has announced he's not going to be in court. Would could happen?
POGGIOLI: Well, first of all, the tribunal said that the trial will go ahead as scheduled and start a 9 a.m. The court rejected Karadzic's request for a 10-month delay. He claims he's not been given sufficient time to study all the prosecution documents, which are some one million pages. So he said he won't show up tomorrow.
What we don't know yet is what Karadzic, who is acting as his own lawyer, plans to after tomorrow, whether he intends to boycott the entire trial. In that case, the judges have these options. They could suspend the proceedings, assign a lawyer to represent Karadzic or force him to appear in the courtroom.
HANSEN: This is the most important trial at the tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia since the aborted trial of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died before a verdict could be reached. What are some of the challenges facing this tribunal?
POGGIOLI: Well, you know, the Milosevic specter is haunting this trial. By defending himself, Milosevic succeeded in delaying the proceedings. The trial had been in session for four years when he died of a heart attack. And you know, Milosevic often used the courtroom for political grandstanding, and that could repeat itself with Karadzic.
In addition, the prosecution in the Milosevic case had presented a massive indictment with a seemingly endless list of witnesses, and that lesson has been learned. The prosecution in this case has streamlined the indictment. There will be fewer witnesses and fewer crime scenes.
HANSEN: Sylvia, you followed the Balkan Wars from the beginning. Remind us of who Karadzic is.
POGGIOLI: He's 64 years old. He is a psychiatrist by training, as well as a very gloomy amateur poet. In 1992, he led a self-proclaimed Bosnian-Serb statelet to war against the Muslim and Croat populations of Bosnia. It was one of the bloodies conflicts in Europe in the 20th century.
The man I met in Sarajevo during the war was a pompous, narcissistic, rabid nationalist, and so I was very surprised when I saw pictures of him after he was arrested last year in Belgrade after more than a decade in hiding.
He was unrecognizable. He'd grown a long, white beard, his hair was tied in a knot on top of his head, and under the name of Dragan Dabic, he presented himself as a mystic, offering new age healing practices, especially for diabetes, depression and even impotence.
He had a Web site where he described himself as a spiritual researcher. But you know, I did recognize one thing in this kind of daring public exposure. The man I first met 17 years ago was an inveterate gambler. He loved poker, and reporters, me included, we often had to track him down in gambling casinos, but that day in July last year in Belgrade, he did lose his match with the tribunal.
HANSEN: NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. Thanks a lot, Sylvia.
POGGIOLI: Thank you, Liane.
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