Court Imposes Lawyer On Karadzic
The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court has appointed a lawyer to represent ex-Bosnian Serb leader whenever he fails to appear in court.
It also adjourned his trial to 1 March to give his counsel time to prepare.
Mr Karadzic - who has been representing himself - appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday after boycotting the start of the trial last week.
He insists he is innocent of all 11 war crimes charges from the 1992-95 Bosnian war, but has refused to enter pleas.
Mr Karadzic, 64, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
'Tactics'
"The accused's conduct has effectively brought the trial to a halt, which is evidently his purpose," a court statement said, AFP news agency reported.
It ordered the court registry to appoint counsel to represent Mr Karadzic's interests when the trial resumes, "if that should be required", stating that he would still "continue to represent himself including by dealing with the day-to-day matters."
Mr Karadzic has seven days to apply for permission to appeal.
At Tuesday's hearing, he argued that he had insufficient time to prepare his defence and sought a 10-month adjournment.
But presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon dismissed the claim, saying the court had already determined the defendant had had ample time to prepare.
Mr Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in 2008, after nearly 13 years on the run.
Wartime leader
During his time in power, Mr Karadzic was president of the self-classd Bosnian Serb republic, and commander of its army during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict, which left more than 100,000 people dead.
He was indicted in 1995, and faces two charges of genocide, nine 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.
Prosecutors say Mr Karadzic led an ethnic cleansing campaign in the conflict, calling him the "undisputed leader" of Serbs responsible for carrying out atrocities.
Prosecutors have said he was responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, in which up to 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.