BELGRADE - Radovan Karadzic's lawyer said Friday he was seeking the return from Serbian authorities of a seized laptop containing files needed for his defence before the UN war crimes tribunal.

"We have a big problem ... as long as those who arrested him don't return the laptop and the 50 CDs containing the entire defence of Radovan Karadzic had prepared for 10 years," the lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, told AFP.

The Belgrade-based lawyer ruled out travelling to the UN court in The Hague in the near future and said "the total strategy" of Karadzic's defence had already been "agreed" with his client.

"Radovan Karadzic does not know if he will be able to appear on August 29", his next scheduled hearing, because of the missing laptop, said Vujacic.

The lawyer revived an accusation that Karadzic had been "kidnapped" by an unknown group on July 18, when his laptop was taken, and not three days later as stated by Serbian authorities.

Karadzic himself made the claim in his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday, when he refused to enter a plea.

The wartime Bosnian Serb political leader faces 11 charges, including that he ordered the siege of Sarajevo that claimed more than 10,000 lives and 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

mat/dv/tw