Karadzic Says Sweden`s Formin Agrees To Meeting

Karadzic has filed a motion arguing charges against him should be dropped because he was promised immunity by U.S.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal on Wednesday Sweden's foreign minister Carl Bildt had agreed to meet his lawyers to discuss an alleged immunity deal.

But Karadzic, on trial in The Hague over war crimes stemming from the 1992-95 Bosnian war, said Bildt was busy with Sweden taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union and the meeting would not take place until the middle of July.

Karadzic has filed a motion arguing charges against him should be dropped because he was promised immunity by U.S. peace mediator Richard Holbrooke if he disappeared from public life.

Karadzic says Bildt helped broker the agreement and the tribunal asked Bildt last month to meet Karadzic's lawyers to discuss the issue. Both Holbrooke and Bildt have denied any knowledge of such a deal.

The tribunal has said even if an immunity deal exists, it would not give Karadzic immunity.

Karadzic, arrested last year after 11 years on the run, is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including two of genocide over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica.

In a pre-trial brief lodged with the court this week, Karadzic said he was not guilty of all charges. He had previously refused to plead in his appearances at the court.

Pre-trial judge Iain Bonomy said on Wednesday a pre-trial conference set for July 20 no longer appeared realistic given ongoing procedural delays and the trial was unlikely to start before September.