Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is to launch his appeal this week against a 40 year prison sentence for genocide and war crimes during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Karadzic, a former psychiatrist, is the highest-ranking official sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, set up in 1993 to prosecute those behind the Balkans bloodshed.

Two years ago Karadzic, now aged 72, was convicted of crimes committed during the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, including the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

Months later he filed an appeal saying his 40-year prison sentence should be overturned or he should be given a "new and fair trial", claiming the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was biased against him.