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Jul 30, 2008, 11:03 GMT

(eca061) Top Dutch lawyer: Karadzic should not defend himself (Extra)

The Hague - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic should hire a defence attorney and not do his own defence, a top Dutch attorney who represents several of the accused at the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Wednesday. 'In order to defend himself against the charges, Karadzic has to translate his defense arguments into legal arguments. As a psychiatrist by training he will not be able to do that,' Geert-Jan Knoops told Dutch public television. Doing his own defence would also be too exhausting, both mentally and physically, he said. 'Even for me, with a team of five or six attorneys, these trials are very tough.' Knoops pointed at late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who also did his own defence. 'In the beginning, Milosevic was quite good, but the trial wore him out. His health deteriorated quickly and visibly to anyone in that court room, and it affected his defense.' Knoops said he did not expect the trial to begin after many months of preparation and pointed out if would be 'very challenging' for prosecutors to get a conviction on all charges, which he said were difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt to a court of law. 'We know from from existing ICTY jurisprudence that very strong evidence is required to convince a court a particular leader condoned or even ordered atrocities taking place 'on the ground' so to speak.' In recent months, several accused at the ICTY were found not guilty, because it could not be proven before the court they could be held accountable for atrocities executed by soldiers, he said.

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