UN judges abruptly adjourned Radovan Karadzic's war crimes trial after the former Bosnian Serb leader boycotted the opening day to protest his lack of time to prepare his defence.
Judge O-Gon Kwon said that in the absence of Karadzic, who was defending himself, or any lawyer representing him, he was suspending the case until Tuesday afternoon, when the prosecution would begin its opening statement.
It was not immediately clear what would happen if Karadzic again boycotted the trial on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff urged judges to appoint a defence attorney to represent Karadzic whether he likes it or not, saying he should not be able to deliberately hold up the trial.
Karadzic, who was one of the central figures of the Balkan wars triggered by the break-up of Yugoslavia, faces two counts of genocide and nine other charges or war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the most important case since the incompleted trial of his former mentor, Slobodan Milosevic.
The former Yugoslav president died during his trial in 2006.
The suspension brought cries of anguish and anger from the small public gallery that was packed with survivors of the war.
Admira Fazlic, who was imprisoned in Bosnian Serb-run camps during the conflict, shook her head as she left the courtroom. "We are shocked," she said. "Radovan Karadzic is making the world and justice ridiculous. He is joking with everybody."
Observers said that the 64-year-old Karadzic's absence from Courtroom One at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal should not overshadow the case's significance. Karadzic's trial is seen as a chance for the tribunal to make amends for Milosevic's ill-fated trial, which dragged on for four years before his fatal heart attack.
Karadzic's genocide charges stem from the 1995 murder of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and from the Bosnian Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing against the country's Muslim and Croat populations. Karadzic, who evaded capture for 13 years, has repeatedly refused to enter pleas, but insists he is innocent. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted at his trial.
