U.N. tribunal judges for the former Yugoslavia have granted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic permission to talk to a journalist, court documents showed on Friday.

Zvezdana Vukojevic, who works for the Dutch weekly Revu, will be the first journalist to interview a suspect of the tribunal. She will be allowed to have contact by writing, telephone and other approved means, the court said in its decision.

Karadzic, representing himself with the help of legal advisers, is on trial in The Hague for war crimes and genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The charges include the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica.

He has had a plea of "not guilty" entered for him.

Karadzic had requested to meet face to face with Vukojevic to respond to discussions in the media about his situation, but his request was denied in November.

He appealed against the decision and the court has now partially ruled in his favour.

The court said all communication between the two will be monitored and added that if Vukojevic did not comply with the court rules, she could be placed under investigation and possibly prosecuted for contempt of court.