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Karadzic denies responsibility at war crimes trial

He is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.

By Ed Adamczyk
In 2000, David Scheffer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, unveiled a poster at the State Departmentto be distributed in Europe in an effort to step up the drive for the conviction of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and two other suspected war criminals. The State Department is offering up to $5 million dollars for information leading to the conviction of Milosevic, and two suspect Serbs, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. rg/rg/Rachel Griffith UPI
In 2000, David Scheffer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, unveiled a poster at the State Departmentto be distributed in Europe in an effort to step up the drive for the conviction of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and two other suspected war criminals. The State Department is offering up to $5 million dollars for information leading to the conviction of Milosevic, and two suspect Serbs, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. rg/rg/Rachel Griffith UPI | License Photo

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ended his five-year genocide trial Wednesday by denying responsibility for the deaths of 100,000 people in the 1992-1995 war.

Rambling as he delivered his final comments at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, where he is accused of 11 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, Karadzic claimed there was no attempt at "ethnic cleansing" of Croatians and Muslims in Bosnia.

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The massacre in the city of Srebrenica in 1995 killed 8,000 Muslims. Karadzic, 69, defending himself without a lawyer, has admitted only to "moral responsibility," but denied the criminal charges, blaming other political leaders for the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II.

"Since the distinguished prosecution lawyer, Mr. (Alan) Tieger, has no evidence, he chose to tarnish my personality. He called me a liar and mobster. He probably wouldn't have if he'd had a single valid piece of hard evidence against Radovan Karadzic," Karadzic said Wednesday.

The prosecution finished arguments Tuesday, depicting Karadzic as the "driving force" behind the Bosnian genocide and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, in which thousands died.

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In his final remarks, Karadzic requested leniency and claimed he was promised immunity from prosecution. He fled Bosnia after the war's end but was arrested in 2008 in Serbia, where he was living in disguise. Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of life imprisonment.

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