**Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is due to begin outlining his defence as his genocide trial at The Hague resumes.**The trial has been adjourned since November after the tribunal appointed a lawyer to represent Mr Karadzic.
He has been conducting his own defence and boycotted the start of the trial in October, claiming he needed more time.
He insists he is innocent of all 11 charges from the 1992-95 Bosnian war, but has refused to enter formal pleas.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) entered a “not guilty” plea for him, but Mr Karadzic has refused to attend court sessions.
On Monday he is expected to begin a two-day opening statement before prosecutors present their first witness on Wednesday.
THE CHARGES
- Eleven counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities
- Charged over shelling of Sarajevo during the city’s siege, in which some 12,000 civilians died
- Allegedly organised the massacre of up to 8,000 Bosniak men and youths in Srebrenica
- Targeted Bosniak and Croat political leaders, intellectuals and professionals
- Unlawfully deported and transferred civilians because of national or religious identity
- Destroyed homes, businesses and sacred sites
Delays and prevarications at trial
Mr Karadzic, 64, faces two charges of genocide - including the killing in Srebrenica of more than 7,000 men and boys - as well as nine other counts including murder, extermination, persecution and forced deportation.
Prosecutors say he orchestrated a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against Muslims and Croats in eastern Bosnia to create an ethnically pure Serbian state.
In his opening statement last October, prosecutor Alan Tieger said Mr Karadzic “harnessed the forces of nationalism, hatred and fear to pursue his vision of an ethnically segregated Bosnia”.
Mr Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in 2008 after nearly 13 years on the run.
During his time in power, he was president of the self-styled Bosnian Serb republic and commander of its army during the Bosnian conflict which left more than 100,000 people dead.