The Netherlands: Karadzic boycotts start of trial

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8325096.stm

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has failed to appear at his trial on 11 charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mr Karadzic denies the charges, which relate to the Bosnian war of the 1990s.
The judge adjourned the case for a day, and requested Mr Karadzic, who is representing himself, to appear.
However, a legal adviser for Mr Karadzic told the BBC he would not appear as he still needed at least nine months to prepare his defence.

I'm sorry, the judge "requested" him to appear?  Requested?  I generally come down on the side of civil rights and protection for the defendant against the government, but what is the point of having a trial if a defendant who has been in custody for over a year - and presumably working on a defense during that time - is still not compelled to attend?

What I'd like to see is a couple of those jack-booted EU troops the Daily Mail is always whining about take Mr. Karadzic by the arms and drag him into court where he will have a fair trial followed by a first-class hanging.

Requested.  Madness.