THE HAGUE, Netherlands - UN judges have ruled that an immunity deal Radovan Karadzic claims he made with U.S. peace envoy Richard Holbrooke would be invalid and would not prevent the former Bosnian Serb leader's trial on genocide charges.
Holbrooke denies Karadzic's claim that the two cut a deal in 1996 for the wartime Bosnian Serb leader to relinquish power in return for immunity from prosecution at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.
In a ruling published Thursday, the judges said such a deal "would be invalid under international law."
Prosecutors say that even if the pact existed, it would have no legal weight at the court.
The ruling "confirms our position," said prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran.
Karadzic is accused of directing Serb atrocities in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and the deadly shelling and sniping campaign during the siege of the capital, Sarajevo.
Despite his claim of immunity, Karadzic went to great lengths to avoid arrest during 13 years on the run.
When Serb security forces captured him last July on a Belgrade bus, he was disguised as a bearded new age guru and living under the assumed name of Dr. Dragan Dabic.
It was not clear if Karadzic would appeal. He is defending himself against 11 charges of genocide, murder, torture and persecution, in a trial expected to start next year.
Ruling in Karadzic's favor, however, the judges ordered prosecutors to turn over any copies of agreements, notes or recordings they may have acquired from meetings Holbrooke held with Serb leaders in Belgrade on July 18-19, 1996. Karadzic claims the immunity deal was made at the meetings.
Kavran said prosecutors would not appeal the ruling. She could not immediately say if they had any such documents.
The prosecution already has given Karadzic a copy of a July 18, 1996, agreement in which Karadzic says he will step down from the Bosnian Serb leadership. That document has not been made public.
The UN tribunal has indicted 161 suspects on war crimes charges and convicted 57. Only two indicted suspects remain on the run -- Karadzic's former military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, and a one-time leader of Serbs in Croatia, Goran Hadzic.
Serbia's failure to arrest the two men is a key hurdle to the country joining the European Union.
