MOSCOW, September 23 (RAPSI, Vladimir Yaduta) – Next week the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, will hear the closing arguments in the case of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in connection with war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, the tribunal said in a statement published on Tuesday.

The closing arguments will last from September 29 to October 2.

Karadzic, who was president of Bosnia’s self-declared Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996, was charged in July 1995 with genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. He is accused of planning and overseeing the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, as well as the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left nearly 12,000 people dead.

Experts believe that about 100,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats. Karadzic said at the trial that this was an overstated figure.

He was arrested in Belgrade in July 2008. The tribunal started the trial in October 2009. The prosecution called 195 witnesses to testify and the defense 238 witnesses, including Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military leader. The Trial Chamber called one witness.

The Hague Tribunal’s president, Theodor Meron, told the UN Security Council in June 2013 that the Karadzic verdict was expected in October 2015.