The Hague Welcome Wagon

It’s always good to have new neighbors here in Den Haag.  Seems like it was only yesterday that we were exchanging Bundt cakes with Charles Taylor, and now we have a new semi-permanent resident arriving at the end of the week: Radovan Karadzic.  Oh, I know, we’ve all been hoping for the Allied moving vans to roll up in front of Scheveningen Prison for ages, but I’m still caught a little off-guard.  There are dinners to be planned, housewarming gifts to be bought, and that’s all before we even work out whether to address the Christmas cards to Mr. Karadzic or Mr. Dabic.  Posting may be light while I consult Emily Post on the proper etiquette for welcoming the “Butcher of Srebernica”.  Maybe rare tenderloin.

UPDATE:  Karadzic is electing to represent himself.  This thing’s going to be a circus, isn’t it?

Incidentally, I am hoping to take some pictures of the tribunal building and the prison at Scheveningen.  I’ll post them as soon as possible.

AND:  Sigh.  A circus, hints this piece in the Guardian:

The war crimes tribunal in the Hague was last night still waiting to receive captured Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, as his legal team engaged in a last-ditch game of cat and mouse with the Serbian authorities.

Karadzic’s lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, was quoted by the Politika daily as saying an appeal against extradition was mailed from a post office on Friday evening, just before the deadline for the application expired. Speaking with reporters yesterday, he refused to disclose any further details.

‘I cannot say anything about the appeal, where or when I filed it or what is in it,’ he said. ‘Had I talked about it, the appeal would already be rejected and Radovan Karadzic would already be on his way to The Hague.’

ALSO:  Joshua Keating at FP Passport has some amusing observations on the prison.  I’m wondering whether I can get myself sent there.