Bosnia war survivors leave for The Hague for Karadzic trial

Some 160 survivors of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war left Sarajevo yesterday to attend the start of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic's genocide trial in The Hague, a news agency reported.

"We are going there (The Hague) to show to Europe and the world that we are still here, still searching for the truth and still waiting for justice," Munira Subasic, head of an association gathering the 1995 Srebrenica massacre survivors that organised the trip, told FENA.

Karadzic's trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) starts tomorrow.

However, the 64-year-old, who is acting as his own lawyer, announced earlier this week that he would boycott the start of his trial because he had not been given enough time to prepare it.

"Karadzic's trial should by conducted in line with rules and justice to avoid what had happened with (former Serbian president Slobodan) Milosevic," said Subasic, who is still searching for the remains of her son and husband.

Milosevic died in his prison cell during his genocide trial in 2006.

"When he died, justice died as well," Subasic said.

Karadzic faces life imprisonment on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions as Bosnian Serb president during Bosnia's inter-ethnic war that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.

Along with his military henchman Ratko Mladic, who is still at large, Karadzic is charged notably for the July 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two.