The Hague  - The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ICTY ordered Tuesday a postponement of at least five days for the opening of the trial of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, upholding his appeal that he needed more time to review prosecution documents.

The trial had been set to start October 21, but the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) partly upheld an appeal seeking a delay while the prosecution prepares an updated - and trimmed down - indictment sheet.

The prosecution has been ordered is to file updated indictment by October 19, making the earliest possible start of the Karadzic trial one week later, or October 26.

The court had previously ordered the prosecution to revise and streamline the massive indictment sheet in a bid to assure a more streamlined trial proceedings. But with the prosecution now missing an October 14 deadline, a trial delay had to be ordered.

Karadzic stands accused of 11 war crimes and crimes against humanity charges for his role in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the siege of Sarajevo and the July 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the village of Srebrenica.

The former Bosnian Serb leader, who is handling his own defence in The Hague proceedings, denies all the charges.  dpa