Karadzic genocide trial to begin卡拉季奇种族灭绝罪的审判开始

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is due to go on trial on 11 charges including genocide（种族灭绝）, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Karadzic denies the charges, which relate to the Bosnian war of the 1990s.

The 64-year-old was taken to the International Criminal Tribunal（法院） for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague last year, after 13 years in hiding.

On Thursday, Mr Karadzic said he would boycott¹ the hearing because he needed more time to prepare his defence.

"The biggest, most complex, important and sensitive case ever before this tribunal is about to begin without proper preparation," he warned.


The start date has already been put back twice, and his threat came after a request for a further 10-month delay was rejected（拒绝）.

In July, the court dismissed Mr Karadzic's appeal that the case be dropped because he said he had been offered immunity² from prosecution³ by former US mediator⁴ Richard Holbrooke in 1996 if he agreed to quit public life. Mr Holbrooke denies the claim.

Judges' options

Judges at The Hague insist the trial will begin as scheduled at 0800 GMT on Monday with the prosecution's opening statement.

But the BBC's Geraldine Coughlan at The Hague says it is unclear how they will proceed if Mr Karadzic does not appear in the dock.

Their options include suspending the trial, imposing⁵ counsel to represent him, starting without him, or forcing him to attend.

Relatives of Srebrenica victims arrive in the Netherlands
Mr Karadzic, who is defending himself, is not due to give his opening statement until next week. One of his lawyers, Peter Robinson, told Reuters news agency that he would boycott the trial until he was prepared.

The former president of Republika Srpska, head of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) and commander of the Bosnian Serb Army has refused to enter pleas, but says he will co-operate with the court to prove his innocence（无罪）.

He was indicted⁶ in 1995 on two counts of genocide and a multitude of other crimes committed against Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians⁷ during the 1992-1995 war, which left more than 100,000 people dead.

The charges relate to several events, including the campaign of shelling and sniper attacks on Sarajevo during the 44-month siege of the city, in which some 12,000 civilians died.

Mr Karadzic is also accused of being behind the massacre⁸ of more than 7,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and youths in Srebrenica in July 1995, and of attacks on more than a dozen Bosnian municipalities in the early stages of the war.

"The prosecution alleges⁹ that Karadzic committed all of these crimes together with other members of a joint¹⁰ criminal enterprise with the aim to permanently¹¹ remove Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat inhabitants from the territories claimed to be a part of the so-called Serbian Republic," the ICTY said in a statement.

Correspondents（记者） say the judges want to complete the trial by 2012, conscious that the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ended without a verdict after four years when he died in custody¹².

Prosecutors（检察官） have abbreviated¹⁴ the scale of their case, which Mr Karadzic says depends on more than a million pages of testimony¹⁵, and will call fewer witnesses and include alleged¹⁶ crimes in fewer locations.

"This trial is important for the victims who will finally see justice being done," chief prosecutor¹³ Serge Brammertz told AFP news agency.

"When you speak to a woman who tells you that 21 members of her family have been assassinated¹⁷, and for some of them she even has no idea where the bodies are, you can easily measure the importance of this trial."

Mr Brammertz said his only regret was that the former Bosnian Serb military leader, Ratko Mladic, would not be in the dock on Monday.

When Mr Karadzic was found living disguised and under a false name in Belgrade in July 2008, some officials claimed that Gen Mladic would be next. But more than a year on, Gen Mladic is still at large. (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

2 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

3 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

4 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

5 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

6 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

9 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

12 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

13 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

14 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

15 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

16 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

17 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句