Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had his first skirmishes with the UN war crimes tribunal Thursday. He was cut short by the judge when he tried to protest his arrest, and put on notice that the prosecution will object to his demand to represent himself. During the initial session, 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. Karadzic appeared at a plea hearing one 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. He declined to enter a plea to the 11 charges against him, and told the judge he intended to act as his own attorney for the duration of the case. “I've been in worse places,” he replied with a smile when Orie asked him about conditions at the UN jail.
