Work at the Tribunal continues to go well. It seems that almost every day I learn something new whether it is because of the work I'm doing, a conversation that I have with somebody at the Tribunal, or a presentation I attend. This past week I attended a talk by one of the Defense attorneys, Peter Robinson. Robinson is the Defense attorney for Radovan Karadzic and he spoke about the development of the right of self-representation....well I should say he spoke a little about the right of self-representation and then the rest of the time he spoke about himself, his "legal thriller," The Tribunal, and how great he thinks Karadzic is. Karadzic was the Bosnian Serb President during the Balkan war conflict and he is an accused war criminal currently on trial at the Tribunal. Peter Robinson gives the impression that he is the greatest man who ever walked this earth. I'm paraphrasing but here's the gist of what he said about Karadzic: "He's a psychiatrist and a poet. He's very intelligent and warm and charming and interesting to talk to. He's very grateful for all the defense interns and he cannot believe so many people will work for him for free." I must say I've never heard a criminal defense attorney sing the praises of a client to this extent.
The portion of the talk that was devoted to the development of the issue of self-representation was, however, interesting. Robinson contrasted the self-representation issues that have occurred in various cases including Slobodan Milosevic, Vojislav Seselj, and Radovan Karadzic. Milosevic's style of self-representation was to barely participate in the trial at all and ultimately standby counsel (basically an attorney who will step in and represent the individual and conduct cross-examination if the Accused is unable to) had to be appointed due to his health and the need to keep the trial progressing. Seselj, on the other hand, sought to be as disruptive to the proceedings as possible and when standby counsel was appointed he commenced a hunger strike in protest. Finally, Karadzic differs from the others in that he has legal counsel (Robinson) to assist him with all the legal pleadings but he conducts all of the cross-examination of witnesses himself.
The defense talks will apparently occur about once a month and will feature a different attorney. It will be interesting to see what topics the other speakers choose and to note whether they also think so highly of their client.
Enough about the law, here's what else has been going on here:
* I've done a bit more exploring around The Hague and have a good idea of where many things are. I took some more photos (posted below) of the city. Unfortunately, the weekend days have been overcast so the photos are not the greatest.
* Last weekend I traveled to Hamburg, Germany to attend the wedding of one of my best friends. The wedding was a lot of fun and I was happy that I was able to make it. The venue was incredible. It was an old building that used to be used for storing ice that was collected from the Elbe river and used for refrigeration in the days of old. All the brick work and the addition of candles and flowers made for a very romantic and cozy ambiance. While I was in Hamburg I also went to the Kunsthalle, which is an art museum. At the Kunsthalle there was a great exhibit which featured art that was made by cutting paper into shapes (ala Henri Matisse). It was a very unique exhibit. I've posted some pictures of the art exhibit and the wedding below.
* This weekend has been low key. I was going to go to Amsterdam with some friends but between the wind (30 mph with 54 mph gusts) and numerous people fighting colds and other ailments we decided to stay at home. It's probably a good thing that I've been home because I've been able to catch up on my "to-do" list. Scholarship applications are due at Lewis and Clark next Friday so I've been working on those, doing laundry, and making arrangements for my trip to India (for those of you that don't know: at the end of May, I'll be heading directly from The Hague to Delhi, India where I'll be interning for 2 months at an Indian law firm!).
Well, that's all for now....hopefully I'll have a chance to write more soon.
Stroopwaffels - these are delicious! I had discovered these before (and I think they sell them at supermarkets or Cost Plus World Market in the US) but the fresh warm ones are divine!
Some Dutch food. I am not sure what the names are of most items, but some are bitterballen which is a fried outside with an unidentified but delicious filling. They have both meat and vegetarian options.
The Peace Palace (Vredespaleis), which houses the International Court of Justice.
The Grotemaarkt. This is a little area of town and the site of numerous bars that we've visited for Thursday night drinks, 80s/90s dancing, etc.
The bride, Maya, and I at her wedding in Hamburg, Germany.
An example of the artwork at the Kunsthalle exhibit that was made entirely by cutting paper into shapes. I only took a few pictures as examples because there were so many neat cut paper / shadow exhibit.
This was not made of cut paper, but was an art exhibit in the lobby of the building. I liked the colors in contrast to the white walls and white flooring.
