Karadzic To Make Plea After File Indictment

Karadzic had allowed a judge in August to enter a plea of `not guilty` for him on charges of war crimes and genocide.

Prosecutors at the Yugoslavian war crimes tribunal in The Hague filed their third amended indictment against former Serbian President Radovan Karadzic on Friday, paving the way for a new plea hearing next week.

Karadzic, 63, who is representing himself with the help of legal advisers, had allowed a judge in August to enter a plea of "not guilty" for him on charges of war crimes and genocide, including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica.

But he will need to re-enter a plea on Tuesday due to the fact that prosecutors have amended the indictment against him. Judges adopted the third amendment on Friday, a court spokeswoman said.

The third amended indictment contains the same number of charges as the second -- 11, including two of genocide -- but includes the crime of killing of up to 140 detainees at the Susica camp in September 1992.

Karadzic, charged with war crimes over the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict, had been due to enter a plea last Friday but that was postponed until March 2.

Tribunal judges approved on Feb. 16 most of the second amended indictment, which narrows the scope of the alleged criminal acts with the intention to create a more efficient trial.

But judges said the crime of the killing of 140 people at the Susica camp was not adequately supported and ordered the prosecutor to lodged a third amended indictment.

Once Karadzic enters a new plea on Tuesday, the tribunal will start technical and administrative preparations for his trial, but no date for the start of proceedings has been set.