Genocide trial opens with Karadzic's words

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic may have been absent, but his words resounded during the start of his war crimes trial at The Hague, Netherlands.

The four-judge tribunal ruled Tuesday that prosecutors could begin their case against Karadzic, accused of being masterminding the bloody Bosnian conflict of 1992-1995, in which 100,000 died, The Times of London reported Wednesday. Karadzic, who is representing himself, skipped proceedings Monday and Tuesday, telling the judges he needed at least nine months to prepare his defense.

The prosecution entered into evidence transcripts of phone taps from 1991, in which, among other things, Karadzic called the area around Sarajevo "a black cauldron where 300,000 Muslims will die."

"They will disappear," the tapes indicated Karadzic said. "That people will disappear from the face of the Earth."

Karadzic has refused to enter pleas on the two charges of genocide and nine other war crimes charges.

Meanwhile, Karadzic's successor as Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, was released Tuesday after six years in jail for war crimes, The Times said. Plavsic, 79, left a prison in Sweden after a U.N. court granted her a good-behavior early release from an 11-year sentence. She was charged with genocide, but reached a plea agreement in October 2002 in which she admitted to "supporting and contributing to achieving the objective of the permanent removal of ethnic populations by force," the British newspaper said.