The man who negotiated a peace agreement among the warring factions in Bosnia that led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, in 1995 – Richard Holbrooke has denied offering Radovan Karadzic immunity from prosecution if he pulled out of public life.

Holbrooke has said that in talks it had been planned for Karadzic to step down from his position of Republic of Srpska president and Serb Democratic Party leader, which he did.

“When he disappeared, he sent disinformation that the two of us reached an agreement that we wouldn’t look for him if he disappeared. That’s a pure lie,” Holbrooke has said.

Karadzic, in his first appearance before the Hague Tribunal, claimed yesterday that the deal with Holbrooke and the U.S. government was struck in 1996, whereby he would pull out of public life and “not hinder the application of the Dayton Accords“, and that in return the U.S. would “honor its commitments“.

Karadzic claimed, “I received an offer from Holbrooke, on behalf of the U.S., to pull out of public life, and that the U.S. would honor its commitments. That was on behalf of the U.S., not Richard Holbrooke. My commitment was to step down and not hinder application of the Dayton Accords.”

Accused of genocide and other war crimes against non-Serbs during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1992-95, Karadzic said that the State Department had tried to block an indictment being brought against him, but that then Chief Prosecutor Richard Goldstone had not allowed this.