VOA标准英语2009年-Karadzic Trial to Begin Monday

By Lauren Comiteau
The Hague
26 October 2009

 
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic - File Photo
 
More than 14 years after being charged with war crimes, Radovan Karadzic is expected to stand trial on Monday in The Hague.  The former Bosnian Serb leader faces 11 counts of war crimes, including genocide, for leading the Bosnian war that is estimated to have left more than 100,000 people dead during the early-to-mid-1990s and saw Europe's only genocide since the Holocaust¹. 

Radovan Karadzic says he will not attend the opening day of his trial because he needs more time to prepare his defense².  Karadzic has chosen to represent himself and claims to have about one million pages of evidence to sort through.

But that is not expected to stop prosecutors⁴ from outlining their most important case since former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.  He died in custody⁵ here three years ago before a verdict could be reached.

The Tribunal's chief prosecutor³, Serge Brammertz said that after 15 months in custody and with a team of legal advisors⁶ to help him, Karadzic should be ready for trial. "If you have time to prepare more than 250 motions [in your defense], you also have time to read the quite voluminous dossier.  So we think that the rights of the defendant⁷ have been respected," he said.

The 64-year-old former politician, psychiatrist⁸, poet and new age guru is charged with two counts of genocide - one for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre⁹, the other for the ethnic¹⁰ cleansing¹¹ of Muslims and Croats from parts of Bosnia.  Karadzic is also charged with persecution¹², extermination¹³ and murder as well as taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage and the 44-month long siege of Sarajevo.  Prosecutors say thousands were killed and wounded during the siege.

Amsterdam-based filmmaker Lydia Zelovic left Sarajevo in 1992, shortly after the first shots were fired. "I think it's brilliant; it's brilliant he's on trial.  And it is absolutely timely.  It's is such an unsettled situation in Bosnia at the moment that you need something to settle it down.  And if Karadzic's trial is going to do that, let's do it as soon as possible," she said.
 
Karadzic says he is innocent.  He is seeking evidence from several nations to prove he was defending his own country.  He says he even made a deal with U.S. diplomat¹⁴ Richard Holbrooke after the war which granted him immunity¹⁵ from prosecution¹⁶ if he left public life.  Holbrooke says there was never such an agreement.  Tribunal judges have ruled that even if there were such a deal, it would have no bearing on the Karadzic's trial.

Prosecutor Brammertz says Karadzic's lack of cooperation with the court will make the case more difficult.  But he said his team will remain focused. "It's not about arms trafficking; it's not about numbers.  It's about a plan and the execution of a plan to have tens-of-thousands of people removed from an areas by killing¹⁷ them, by putting them in camps, by rapes¹⁸.  This is the essence of this case.  We will try to remind all the time that this is the issue, this is the topic.  And we want the victims to be at the center of the presentation of this case," he said.

Dozens of those victims have traveled from Bosnia to attend the trial's opening.  But one of the men they hold responsible for their suffering remains¹⁹ at large -- Karadzic's military leader, General Ratko Mladic.  But as a group of Srebrenica survivors²⁰ told journalists, they are here to show the world that they are searching for truth and are awaiting justice.  They say they hope that process gains new momentum²¹ on Monday.

1 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 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。

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 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。

6 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

7 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

8 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

9 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！

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

11 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

12 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

13 extermination   

n.消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• All door and window is sealed for the extermination of mosquito. 为了消灭蚊子，所有的门窗都被封闭起来了。 来自辞典例句
• In doing so they were saved from extermination. 这样一来却使它们免于绝灭。 来自辞典例句

14 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

15 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。

16 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。

17 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

18 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

21 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。