The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, The Hague

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, appearing for the first time before the U.N. war crimes tribunal, declined to enter a plea and told the judge he intended to act as his own attorney.

Karadzic was told Thursday at his initial hearing that prosecutors will object to his demand to represent himself and Judge Alphons Orie scheduled an Aug. 29 hearing at which Karadzic must enter pleas.

If he does not, the court will enter pleas of innocent to 11 charges on his behalf.

"With all due respect to you personally, I will defend myself before this institution as I would defend myself before any natural catastrophe," Karadzic told Orie. Karadzic also claimed his seizure and trial violated a deal he made with the United States in 1996 that the case against him would be scrapped if he left politics and did not undermine the peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war.

The plea hearing took place a day after he was extradited from Serbia to answer genocide and war crimes charges for the murder of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats and for directing a reign of terror during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger asked the judge to caution Karadzic about the risks of conducting his own defense - an indication that the prosecution wanted to avoid a repeat of the much-criticized trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic who died in jail in 2006 before his four-year trial ended.

It was the first time Karadzic was seen in public since he dropped from sight more than a decade ago. He appeared thinner, grayer, but still defiant, self-confident and able to joke.

The full beard, long hair and loose white clothes that he wore when posing as a new age psychologist in Belgrade were replaced by a clean shave, fresh haircut and a business suit with a black briefcase.

"I've been in worse places," he replied with a smile when Orie asked him about conditions at the U.N. jail.

For many war survivors, the sight of Karadzic brought fresh pain to old wounds.

About 20 widows in Tuzla, Bosnia watched his court appearance on TV in the small office of the Association of the Mothers of Srebrenica, site of a wartime massacre.

"There is the trash," one woman said when Karadzic came into court. Three women burst into tears.