A London-based barrister has been named to represent former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic at his trial for war crimes and genocide, the U.N. criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said on Friday.

Two weeks ago the ICTY ordered that a lawyer be appointed for Karadzic after he failed to attend the start of his trial last month in a part of his attempts to delay the trial.

The trial against Karadzic, who faces all 11 war crimes charges stemming from the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including two of genocide, was adjourned earlier this month until March 2010.

Karadzic was indicted notably in connection with the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995 and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Troops of the Bosnian Serb Army's Sarajevo Romanija Corps laied siege to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo from August 1994 to the end of the Bosnian war in November 1995.

The troops shelled the city and directed sniper fire against civilians as they queued for bread, went to markets or walked with their children.

According to human rights organisations, some 10,000 civilians, including 1,500 children, died in the 44-month siege of Sarajevo -- the longest such blockade in Europe since the end of World War II.

In a legal career dating back to 1971, Harvey has dealt with a number of domestic and international criminal and human rights cases -- including two before the ICTY in which he defended Kosovo Albanians accused of war crimes, according to a biography on the website of his practice Garden Court Chambers.


Agencies