PROSECUTORS called for a life sentence for former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in closing remarks at his trial in The Hague today.

Prosecutor Alan Tieger called Mr Karadzic a “liar” and said his denial of responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, which saw over 7,000 Muslim men and boys killed, was not credible.

Mr Karadzic, who headed the Bosnian Serb Republic during the wars which followed the dismemberment of socialist Yugoslavia, claimed he was unaware of the Srebrenica killings, which were carried out by the army, whose chief General Ratko Mladic is also on trial.

But Mr Tieger said the former leader had “bragged at the time about the painstaking steps he was taking” to remove non-Serbs from parts of Bosnia and create an “ethnically pure” state.

Many Serbs view the UN Yugoslav tribunal as biased, arguing that it has not gone after war criminals from other former Yugoslav states.