Report backs Karadzic's US protection deal claim
Mr Karadzic has said he fears he will not receive a fair trial
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Saturday, 02, Aug 2008 07:58
A Serbian newspaper has backed Radovan Karadzic's claim he signed a deal with US authorities to evade indictment over war crimes charges.
Blic cited an unnamed US intelligence official as saying that a deal existed until 2000 under which Mr Karadzic was told he would avoid being taken to court if he kept a low profile.
The nationalist politician, who is accused of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war, has already accused the US of protecting him and then abandoning him during his time on the run.
In his statement before prosecutors at The Hague Mr Karadzic spoke of a deal allegedly concluded with US authorities under which he would not be put on trial if he withdrew from public life.
The 63-year-old has already rejected the possibility of a fair trial.
Speaking about factors that could hinder the impartiality of the trial, he said: "The first irregularity I would mention is the media witch-hunt which began in the Muslim media even before the beginning of the armed conflict and which proclaimed me a war criminal at a time when the only victims were Serbs.
"It is now unimaginable to many people that this court could acquit me. I believe that this fact seriously jeopardises the trial itself," he added.
According to Blic, the alleged deal with Washington was called off once the CIA learnt that the politician was working to re-establish his Serbian Democratic party.
Richard Holbrooke, the US official who negotiated the peace accord that ended the Bosnian war, said no such deal had ever been concluded.
Mr Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade last month after spending years on the run under an elaborate disguise to avoid detection.
He is in The Hague to answer charges over war crimes and genocide during the 1992-1995 Bosnian-Serb war but is yet to enter a plea.