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Radovan Karadzic
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Mr Karadzic says he has been swamped by court documents
Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has insisted he needs more time to prepare his defence, during his first appearance at his war crimes trial.
Mr Karadzic told a procedural hearing in The Hague that he had not been given the opportunity to go through vast amounts of prosecution documents.
He is representing himself and last week boycotted the start of his trial.
Presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon adjourned the trial, saying he would rule later in the week on how it will proceed.
At the start of Tuesday's special hearing, Mr Karadzic said he has been "snowed under" by 1.3 million pages of documents submitted by prosecutors.
He said he needed another 10 months to prepare his defence.
Judge Kwon replied that the court had already determined the defendant had had ample time to prepare.
"Clearly you disagree with these decisions," the judge added. "However, as I previously stated to you, it is the trial chamber, not an accused person, which determines readiness for trial."
Mr Karadzic said he did not want to boycott proceedings but could not "take part in something that has been bad from the start and where my fundamental rights have been violated".
'Undisputed leader'
Mr Karadzic's trial opened on 26 October, when he failed to appear.
When he again failed to show the following day, the judge said the defendant had chosen not to exercise his right to be present and "must therefore accept the consequences", announcing the trial would proceed in his absence.
Judge Kwon has also said the court is considering imposing a lawyer to represent Mr Karadzic.
The defendant was the president of Republika Srpska, head of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) and commander of the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, which left more than 100,000 people dead.
He was indicted in 1995, and faces two charges of genocide and nine more of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He was taken to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague last year, after 13 years in hiding.
Prosecutors say Mr Karadzic was the leader of an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Bosnian War, calling him the "undisputed leader" of Serbs responsible for carrying out atrocities during the conflict.
Prosecutors have said he is responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, in which up to 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.
Mr Karadzic has not entered a plea, but is protesting his innocence.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
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