Karadzic asks to summon Albright

5:46a.m. 7th August 2008

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has applied to the UN war crimes tribunal to summon former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her envoy Richard Holbrooke to testify in his genocide case.

Karadzic alleges that Holbrooke struck a deal with him in 1996 that he would never stand trial for war crimes, if he quietly left politics and disappeared, without hindering the recently signed Bosnian peace agreement.

Holbrooke has denied the story, but Karadzic wants him to testify under oath.

In his submission filed on Wednesday, Karadzic challenges the legality of his trial.

Karadzic is acting as his own lawyer. He says he is the target of a witch hunt that makes an acquittal improbable.