Karadzic Called Ethnic Cleansing's 'Driving Force' At Trial

Radovan Karadzic

Final arguments have begun in the five-year-long genocide and war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

Prosecutors at the UN court in The Hague on September 29 called Karadzic the "driving force" of ethnic cleansing during Bosnia's civil war and said he is responsible for all of "the tragedies."

The prosecution wants Karadzic to be sentenced to life in prison for his alleged crimes, which include responsibility for the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men near Srebrenica in 1995.

Prosecutors have called Karadzic the "preeminent political and military leader of the Bosnian Serbs and their forces" during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war that left some 100,000 people dead.

Karadzic, 69, and his former military chief Ratko Mladic, who is on trial separately at The Hague, insist they acted to protect Bosnia's ethnic Serbs.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP