Karadzic makes first appearance before genocide court

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THE HAGUE, AUG 1 (AFP): Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic made a combative first appearance at the UN's war crimes court Thursday, waiving his right to defence counsel and claiming he had been kidnapped and that his life was in danger.

Declining to enter a plea immediately, he also claimed to have made a deal with US negotiator Richard Holbrooke at the end of the Bosnian war that involved him withdrawing from public life and said it now put his life at risk.

Dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", the 63-year-old was composed and polite throughout his procedural appearance before the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which has indicted him on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Shorn of the beard and long hair used to disguise himself as an alternative healer until his recent arrest after more than a decade on the run, he was again recognisable as the man who became one of the most reviled figures of the 1992-95 war-though older, thinner and more pale.

Wearing a dark blue jacket and tie, he sat gravely in the dock, waiving his right to a lawyer and stating "I will defend myself as I would defend myself against any natural catastrophe".