Karadzic branded a liar as he addresses UN court Ed: Re-leads, updates with reactions from relatives of the victims (1st Lead)

Mar 2, 2010, 10:50 GMT

The Hague - Relatives of the victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia branded Radovan Karadzic a liar Tuesday after the former Bosnian Serb leader reacted to charges of genocide and war crimes by blaming local Muslims for a conflict that produced some of the worst war atrocities in Europe since World War II.

'We have been shocked by his lies. He has said nothing but lies, lies, lies!' said Nora Degovic, a Srebrenica woman who lost 16 family members as a result of inter-ethnic clashes in the former Yugoslav state during the 1990s.

Degovic is one of a handful of relatives of the thousands of victims of the 1992-95 war who have travelled to the Hague to follow proceedings at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Karadzic, who faces a total of 11 charges in the Dutch capital, delivered a largely political speech as he sketched his defence during this week's hearings - the first since a four-month suspension in his trial.

According to his version of Bosnian history, the then Muslim leadership was largely responsible for stirring hostilities by rejecting a power-sharing plan and seeking to establish an Islamic Republic in the heart of Europe.

But relatives of the victims rejected his interpretation of events.

'Before he came about and created divisions, Serbs, Croats and Muslims in Bosnia lived together in harmony,' Degovic told German Press Agency dpa.

'He says divisions always existed and that we wanted to grab Serb territory. But it is he who drew up maps dividing Bosnia along ethnic lines,' Degovic said.

A defiant Karadzic has denied the 11 charges that prosecutors have brought against him and has described the Bosnian conflict as a 'just and holy war' against Muslim fundamentalists.

He has repeatedly portrayed local Serbs as helpless victims of Muslim aggression.

But Hatidza Mehmedovic, a woman who lost two son and her husband in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, said Tuesday that Muslims were equipped only with improvised petrol bombs and hunting rifles to counter heavy-armoured Serb army vehicles.

The Srebrenica mothers also accused Karadzic of conducting a 'shameless' and 'surreal' defence and expressed anger at Karadizic's apparent lack of remorse.

'I hope the prosecution will show the places where he ordered those crimes, the mass graves - then we'll see how he reacts,' Degovic said.

The worst atrocity allegedly committed by Serb forces under Karadzic's command was the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, then a UN-declared 'safe zone,' in which more than 7,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys were killed.

During Monday's hearing, Karadzic had also accused prosecutors of fabricating the evidence used to charge him with genocide, war crimes and crime against humanity.

Meanwhile, judges were expected to consider a possible appeal by his legal advisers against the court's refusal to suspend the trial in order to give them more time to prepare his case.

Prosecutors retort that the accused has had plenty of time to prepare while in custody for over 18 months. Moreover, the defendant obtained a four-month suspension in order to better prepare his case after boycotting the trial's opening hearings in October.

'In the interests of ensuring the expeditious conduct of the trial, the proceedings should not again be adjourned,' prosecutors told judges in their response to the defence's request.

Witnesses are already en route to The Hague to testify in the case, with the first witnesses due to begin testifying on Wednesday.

First indicted in 1995, Karadzic was arrested in July 2008 in Belgrade, where he had been hiding disguised as the long-bearded Dragan David Dabic, doctor of alternative medicine.

The Bosnian War left more than 100,000 dead and more than 2 million displaced people.