**Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is to appear at a pre-trial hearing at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.**He is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The charges relate to the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war.
The trial is expected to start on 19 October, but Mr Karadzic has asked the judges for 10 more months to prepare his case.
The BBC’s Geraldine Coughlan, in The Hague, says there is tension between the judges and the prosecutors which could cause delay. The prosecution is resisting pressure to cut the indictment to speed up the trial, including dropping some of the charges.
She adds that the judges want to complete this trial in about two years, as the court is due to wrap up its work by 2013, and how the judges manage the trial is being closely watched.
There was much criticism over the trial of the former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, which ended without a verdict after four years when he died in custody.