Karadžić

The letter points out, as he stated, the disastrous action of ad hoc courts.

Former Territorial Defence fighter Milan Trisic went on trial at the Bosnian state court on Wednesday, accused of committing crimes against humanity in the village of Hranca and in the town of Bratunac in 1992.

He is accused of participating in the persecution of Bosniak civilians from the village and of involvement in murders, detentions, forcible disappearances and torture.

The Bosnian state prosecution investigated 58 people for offering financial support to Karadzic, but its probe was discontinued several years ago because there was no proof that any crimes were committed, and the people under investigation cooperated with the Hague Tribunal.

Decision taken by majority of judges

From the top of the UN military vehicle a UN UNPROFOR soldier scans the hillside with his binoculars looking for snipers and other military activity during the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina, 1994. Photo: EPA/FEHIM DEMIR

"He deserved nothing less than life imprisonment," said Nura Alispahic from Srebrenica, whose two sons were killed.

The verdict was also welcomed by Bosniak politicians - but political leaders in the country's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity said it proved that the UN court was anti-Serb.

"The Serb people and myself together with it, have already won. The Serb Republic (RS, the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina) has been created, and the Serb people are free in their own state," Karadzic is quoted as saying, and adding:

These reports quote neighbors who said the migrants broke into one of the apartments on the ground floor of a building where Karadzic's wife has her apartment, and then into another, where the family lived until the spring of 1992.

The neighbors claim they saw the migrants break into "one of the apartments" and stayed there.

Former Bosnian Serb political leader Karadzic wants the Hague Tribunal to reopen his defence case to admit confidential cables from Western ambassadors he believes will help prove his innocence.

Dick Advocaat is new coach of Serbian football team

BELGRADE -- Dutch football coach Dick Advocaat will take over the Serbian national team, Serbian Football Association (FSS) President Tomislav Karadžić has confirmed.

Advocaat will take over from Ljubiša Drulović, who was acting coach of Serbia after Siniša Mihajlović left.