View of the empty seats of the defense where former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was supposed to sit (C rear) if he would have been attending the start of his trial at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 October 2009. The war crimes trial of Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs through a brutal three-year civil war in the early 1990s, began about 15 months after he was captured in Serbia. The prosecution and defense will each have one year to present their case. Karadzic is boycotting today's hearing to protest his lack of time to prepare for the trial, saying he needs months more to get ready. His refusal to show up at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is a blow to survivors who hold him responsible for tens of thousands of deaths during the brutal 1992-95 Bosnian war. The case comes as a relief after the trial of Karadzic's former political mentor Slobodan Milosevic collapsed without a verdict after he died in 2006