Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic appeared defiantly before a UN war crimes judge on Wednesday, claiming a top US envoy had promised him immunity on behalf of the UN Security Council.

Appearing briefly before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Karadzic repeated claims that he was promised indemnity by former US diplomat Richard Holbrooke in 1995 in exchange for disappearing from the public eye.

He also said that Holbrooke had not only been acting on behalf of the United States, but all permanent members of the UN Security Council.

"Everything that was done by Mr Holbrooke led to a Security Council resolution," Karadzic told Judge Iain Bonomy.

"This is not an issue that can simply be dismissed as a bilateral agreement between me and the United States. He (Holbrooke) acted on behalf of the permanent members of the Security Council."

Karadzic also told the court he had "irrefutable evidence that NATO tried to liquidate me".

Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton peace accord that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war in which 100 000 people died, has denied promising Karadzic his freedom.

Bonomy warned Karadzic of the dangers inherent in conducting his own defence, particularly with regard to the issue of indemnity.

An influence on the tribunal?

The trial court was considering Karadzic's claims, said Bonomy, to determine whether any agreement with Holbrooke "can have or ought to have an influence on the work of an independent tribunal".

"I hope you took legal advice when you made your representations and that you didn't sell yourself short in this particular matter," the judge told Karadzic.

But the accused insisted that "nobody who were to appear in this court can know the facts as well as I do.

"I am not ready to be a thing here, an object. I am not prepared to be passive and to allow other people to deal with matters that concern me."

The 63-year-old former Bosnian Serb leader faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, notably for the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left 10 000 dead and the July 1995 massacre of around 8000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger told the court that a new indictment would be filed by Monday, without indicating whether this would include new or amended charges.

Wednesday's appearance was for a status conference, held on a regular basis to allow the prosecution and the defence to settle outstanding matters in preparation for trial.

Karadzic was in fighting spirits, complaining about the quality and tardiness of documents provided by the prosecution and insisting on court room transcripts in Serbian.

Karadzic's demands

He also demanded a month to read the prosecution's amended charge sheet, and a fresh opportunity to enter an overall plea once it is filed. He claimed he had not studied the existing indictment as he did not want to "squander time or resources".

Bonomy cautioned Karadzic against challenging court processes merely for the sake of it, or using the court as a platform "just so you can make some sort of public statement".

Karadzic refused to plead before the ICTY last month, resulting in an automatic not guilty plea entered on his behalf.

Dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", Karadzic was arrested on a Belgrade bus on 21 July posing as a doctor of alternative medicine called Dragan Dabic — 13 years after he was first indicted by the ICTY.

AFP