Karadzic to run his own defence

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Radovan Karadzic will conduct his own defence at the Hague tribunal and is convinced he will be cleared of charges of genocide, relatives and associates of the war crimes suspect said on Wednesday.

Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-95 Bosnia war, was arrested in Serbia on Monday after 11 years on the run.

He was one of three remaining war crimes fugitives from the Yugoslav wars, their arrest a condition for Serbia to move towards European Union membership.

He is now in a Belgrade prison awaiting extradition to The Hague, which could come this weekend.

Karadzic's lawyer in Serbia, Svetozar Vujacic, said his client was in good mental and physical condition. He was not talking to investigators, but "defending himself with silence".

"He is going to have a legal team in Serbia but will defend himself during his trial at The Hague," Vujacic told Reuters.

"He is convinced that with the help of God he will win."

Karadzic is twice indicted for genocide for the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in 1995 and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. Some 11,000 people died in the city from sniper fire, mortar attacks, starvation and illness.