MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - Former president of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic began his final statement in The Hague hearing of his crimes against humanity, ITAR-TASS reports Wednesday.

During the presentation of the case, Karadzic stressed that he does not consider himself guilty and should not even be involved in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Karadzic, who is also his own defense lawyer, admitted that he, as a military leader of the Serbian territorial entity that broke away from Serbia, “bears moral responsibility” for the crimes committed by citizens and the army of the Republika Srpska.

He noted, however, that he was not aware of the events in Srebrenica, the Muslim enclave where in June 1995 some 8,000 men and boys were killed. He therefore cast discredit on the total number of victims and the fact that the incident can be classified as genocide.

Karadzic also raised doubts about the reliability and integrity of the testimonies of ICTY prosecutors. The former president claims that the prosecution is based on insinuations, rumors and testimonies of their own employees.

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.