'Procedural violations... the lack of respect for my rights... the possibility of compulsory liquidation... these questions must be clarified before continuing proceedings against me,' the 63-year-old former Bosnian Serb leader said in an appeal that ended by arguing for the 'annulment of the trial for these reasons.'

Arrested in Belgrade last month on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, Karadzic was transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on July 30. His trial is not due to start for several months.

This is not the first time Karadzic has challenged the legality of his trial.

Earlier he claimed an alleged deal - in which the US peace negotiator in Bosnia, Mr Richard Holbrooke, had promised he would avoid trial if he withdrew from public life - invalidated his prosecution.

In a submission to the court on August 6, he said he wanted Mr Holbrooke to be summoned to appear before it.

'So that we may ascertain whether this case is legally tenable, I propose that you... order that Richard Holbrooke appear before you and declare under oath whether or not there was such an agreement and whether the USA complied with its obligations from that agreement.'

He said Mr Holbrooke had promised he would protect Karadzic from prosecution by the tribunal in return from disappearing from the public eye.

Mr Holbrooke, credited with the Dayton peace agreement that ended Bosnia's war, has rejected Karadzic's claims.

Karadzic, who was detained on July 21, has also repeated claims that former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright had made 'offers... concerning my immunity and desisting from prosecution.'

But the United States reneged on the deal and turned its attention instead to efforts to 'liquidate' him, he alleged earlier.

Karadzic has indicated he will defend himself at the trial.

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic had wanted a similar list of people brought before his genocide trial, with no success. They had included Mr Holbrooke and Mrs Albright.

Karadzic, 63, was arrested in Belgrade 13 years after the ICTY first issued an indictment against him over a campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' during the Bosnian war in which 100,000 people died.

He faces 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including for the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 dead, and the July 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the UN-protected area of Srebrenica.

The trial is not due to start for several months. -- AFP