Bosnian Serb war-time leader Radovan Karadzic told UN tribunal appeals judges on Monday his conviction for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal “absolutely has to fall”.

The now defunct Hague Tribunal (ICTY) sentenced Karadzic in March 2017 to 40 years in prison for genocide and war crimes committed during the 1991-1995 war in Bosnia.  

In his address to the appeals panel of the ICTY successor UN tribunal, Karadzic rejected as “a myth” the claim that he took part in a comprehensive joint criminal enterprise to permanently remove Moslems and Croats from a large part of Bosnia-Herzegovina. “That is a myth about permanent expulsion. I signed agreements on the return of refugees… There is no way that what the indictment says is right,” he said.  

Karadzic cited procedural irregularities and “wrongly determined facts” as the grounds for a fresh trial.   He also distanced himself from the volunteer and para-military forces which committed some of the war crimes he was sentenced for. “We arrested and tried them,” Karadzic said.  

The war-time Republika Srpska (RS) President rejected the claim in his indictment that the main Bosnian Serb strategic goal was separation from Croats and Bosnian Moslems. “There is no proof of the intention to conduct ethnic cleansing,” Karadzic said and added that the point was not separating people but “state units” which he claims was in line with the law.   

The prosecution will present its counter-arguments to Karadzic’s appeal on Tuesday and has called the appeals panel to reject the demand of Karadzic’s lawyers for a new trial. Karadzic’s defense team said the initial trial was unjust and called for a re-trial.