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Karadzic Accuses UN Prosecutors for Putting Entire Serb People on Trial


FILE - Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic appears in the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, July 11, 2013.
FILE - Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic appears in the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, July 11, 2013.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic began his closing statement at his trial in the Hague, maintaining his innocence of wrongdoing during the 1990 Bosnia War and admitting only “moral responsibility.”

Karadzic is charged with 11 crimes, including genocide for Srebrenica, where almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995 by Serb forces under General Ratko Mladic’s command.

Karadzic insisted U.N. prosecutors do not have any evidence to support charges linking him to atrocities in the Bosnian War, and accused them of putting the entire Serb people on trial.

In a 874-page written statement at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Karadzic said he was not aware at the time of the slaughter at Srebrenica.

A defiant Karadzic told court he was “really a true friend” to the Bosnia’s Muslims.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty of life imprisonment if Karadzic is found guilty of genocide and other crimes committed during the 1990s Bosnia War that left about 100,000 people dead. A verdict is expected sometime in 2015.

Karadzic responsibilities included ultimate oversight of the army commanded by Mladic, who is also on trial for genocide in the Hague.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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