VOA标准英语2008年-Radovan Karadzic Refuses to Answer to War Crime

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has appeared before the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal for the second time, and once again refused to plead to the charges against him. The judge entered a not guilty plea for him on all 11 counts, including genocide. Lauren Comiteau was in court and files this report for VOA from The Hague.
　
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic at the UN Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, 29 Aug 2008

Calm and confident, even making jokes, Radovan Karadzic told Judge Iain Bonomy that, given his feelings about the court, he refuses to enter a plea.

"I'm deeply convinced this court is representing itself falsely as a court of the international community when it is in fact a court of NATO, whose aim is to liquidate¹ me. It is therefore very hard for me to express my standpoint on anything before this is cleared up. I have stopped using a false name and I think all parties should do the same," he said.

When Karadzic was apprehended² in the Serbian capital Belgrade in July, he had been living there openly under a new identity as a traditional healer named Dragan Dabic. He was transferred to The Hague to face charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, arising from his role in attacks on civilians³ during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre⁴ of eight-thousand Muslim men and boys.

During Friday's court appearance, Karadzic refused to plead to the first count of genocide, so Judge Bonomy, bound by the rules of the court, took matters into his own hands.

Bonomy: "I shall therefore enter on your behalf a plea of not guilty. Is that the position you are going to take in relation to each of the other ten charges on the indictment⁵."

Karadzic: "Absolutely."

Judge: "I shall therefore enter pleas of not guilty in respect of each of the other charges on the indictment. In other words, your plea is one of not guilty to the indictment as a whole. The registry will set a date for your trial in due course. Please be seated."

Karadzic: "May I hold you to your word?"

Judge: "Which word?

Karadzic: "That I'm not guilty."

Judge: "We shall see in due course, Mr. Karadzic."

Prosecutors⁶ say they will have a new indictment ready at the end of next month. This displeased⁷ Judge Bonomy, who told prosecutors they have had eight years to amend⁸ their last indictment.

Karadzic, who is representing himself, says he will have a legal team in place by then, and would answer to the new charges. All parties will be back in court next month.

1 liquidate   

v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产

参考例句：

• A unanimous vote was taken to liquidate the company.全体投票一致通过停业清理公司。
• They have not hesitated in the past to liquidate their rivals.过去他们曾毫不犹豫地铲除对手。

2 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 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！

5 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

6 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。

7 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

8 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。