Karadzic denies war crime charges

Radovan Karadzic,  a 67 year old former Bosnian Serb leader, was arrested in Belgrade in 2008 for crimes against humanity, charges which he is openly denying. Karadzic stated in his defense at the opening of his trial in The Hague that he is a “tolerant man” and should be “rewarded for reducing suffering” and seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict.  He calmly delivered his personal statement, which described himself as a “mild” and “tolerant” man. He stated that, during the conflict, he honored international law and sought peace agreements.  He denied specifically targeting civilians and called the notorious attack on a street market in February of 1994 “orchestrated” by those who wanted to discredit him. He currently faces 10 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war of the 1990s.  He is being held responsible for what has been the worst single atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II, the killing of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica. He is also being charged with the deaths of over 12,000 civilians who died during a 44 month siege of Sarajevo.