Karadzic refuses to enter plea

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic today refused to enter a plea to war crimes charges at the UN tribunal in The Hague.

A plea of not guilty to all charges was entered on his behalf by a tribunal judge, in line with court rules.

Karadzic, 63, faced 11 counts, including genocide, relating to the Bosnian civil war in the 1990s at what was his second court appearance.

He was arrested last month in the Serbian capital Belgrade after 13 years on the run. He was living under a false name and had changed his appearance.

He looked composed as he told the tribunal it was a "court of Nato" which desired his "liquidation".

Karadzic added: "I've stopped using a false name so I think that all parties should do the same."

Charges against him included the killing of up to 8,000 men and youths in the enclave of Srebrenica - in what is regarded as Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War.

The next hearing will be on 17 September.

Prosecutors are expected to streamline the indictment.

The trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, accused of genocide, had lasted for four years when he died in 2006, before a vedict had been reached.