The victims of Radovan Karadzic voiced outrage yesterday after the former Bosnian Serb leader made a mockery of the first day of justice for the worst atrocities seen in Europe since the Second World War.

Dr Karadzic, 64, remained in the plush detention centre nicknamed the “Hague Hilton” rather than face charges of genocide and war crimes in his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has vowed to do the same today.

It was too much to bear for the Mothers of Srebrenica, the relatives of about 8,000 men and boys murdered allegedly on Dr Karadzic’s orders in a UN safe haven 14 years ago. The families arrived in three bus-loads from Bosnia hoping to see justice done.

Standing outside the UN court in the rain, Munira Subasic, 62, whose husband and brother died in the massacre, said: “It feels like they are being killed all over again.”

The Mothers of Srebrenica fear a repeat of the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader, who escaped judgment when he died in custody in 2006, after stringing out his trial for more than four years with delays and courtroom histrionics.

“They cannot do this like Milosevic. He died and justice died with him,” Mrs Subasic said. “We know there is enough evidence against Karadzic and we pray it will not take time because we need justice.”

There was uproar in the public gallery among the victims’ relatives present when the four judges, faced with empty chairs on the defence side of the court, adjourned and filed out after a hearing lasting less than 20 minutes.

Admira Fazlic, who was imprisoned in Bosnian Serb-run camps during the ethnic conflict of the 1990s, said: “We are shocked. Radovan Karadzic is making the world and justice ridiculous. He is joking with everybody.”

Dr Karadzic, who faces two charges of genocide and nine war crimes charges arising from his role in the Bosnian conflict, gave notice last week that he would not attend the opening of his trial because he wanted another nine months to prepare his defence.

Judge O-Gon Kwon read a letter from Dr Karadzic to the court in which he said that he would never boycott his own trial, but that he needed the extra time because he was determined to defend himself.

Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff, for the prosecution, urged the judges to appoint a lawyer for Dr Karadzic so the case could begin. “There is no reason not to start the trial. This trial chamber is faced with two choices — allowing the accused to continue to absent himself and therefore frustrate these proceedings or to assign counsel.”

She added: “The accused has used all the legal remedies he had available. He had appealed the decision of the commencement of the trial — his appeal was dismissed. The accused having exhausted his legal remedies now wants to dictate the course of the trial through other means.”

She also quoted from the letter sent by Dr Karadzic to the court on October 22. In it, he wrote: “As soon as I am prepared, I will be happy to inform the trial chamber a few weeks in advance.” Ms Uertz-Retzlaff added: “In other words, the trial can only start if the accused says it should. However, it is an obligation of the trial chamber to decide when it should start. Of course it is a complex case and the submission is massive but this has already been considered by the trial chamber.

“The accused has been provided with the witness list not only for October, November and December but until mid-February. His refusal to attend effectively blocks the commencement. The trial chamber should therefore impose counsel to prevent the fundamental obstruction of these proceedings.”

Adjourning proceedings, Judge Kwon insisted that the case would begin today with the opening statement from the prosecution and he urged Dr Karadzic to attend. “We request [him] to attend so that his trial is not further obstructed.”

The judge also prepared the ground for imposing a defence lawyer, although legal experts believe that this would cause delays of several months while the new counsel studied the case. “There are measures that can be taken should he continue to obstruct the progress of the trial,” Judge Kwon said.

Dr Karadzic, who faces life imprisonment if found guilty, has yet to enter a plea. He has spent 15 months in a cell in the UN detention centre since his arrest in Belgrade, disguised as a New Age faith healer.

He had spent his final months of freedom working under the alias of Dr Dragan David Dabic at an anonymous high-rise block in the western part of the city.

He was unrecognisable as the bouffant-haired wartime leader, having adopted the disguise of a flowing white beard and large dark-rimmed glasses. “Dr Dabic” even published several articles on Serbian Orthodox meditation in a health magazine and regularly spent evenings in a local bar singing folk songs and playing the gusle, a traditional Serb instrument.

His current home at the “Hague Hilton” has a reputation for comfort and a friendly atmosphere, with reports of table tennis and chess matches between once-deadly foes. Conjugal visits are permitted and one defendant was even married there — with Milosevic as his best man.

Nerma Jelacic, a court spokeswoman, said that the adjournment was simply to give Dr Karadzic time to reconsider his boycott. “The judges have figured out what they are going to do: They are going to start with or without him,” she said.

But Param-Preet Singh, of Human Rights Watch, said that denying Dr Karadzic the right of self-defence could backfire.

“To strip him of that right by imposing counsel, you could have the situation where you have an uncooperative defendant forced to defend himself in a way he did not want,” she said.

The scene has been set for a battle of wills between the tribunal and its most prominent defendant, who last night issued a further defiant message. Marco Sladojevic, one of Dr Karadzic’s legal advisers, said: “He says that he will not appear tomorrow. He cannot be there because that would mean he participates in the start of a trial that he is not ready for.”

Fikret Alic, who became a defining image of the barbarism of the war when he was photographed in 1992 as a skeletal prisoner behind barbed wire, came to The Hague hoping to see Dr Karadzic in the dock.

“I am very disappointed and I am so sorry this can happen in the 21st century,” said Mr Alic, now 39 and married with three children.

“I only expect a fair trial, to show why we were detained and why so many of us were killed.”

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