THE HAGUE: Radovan Karadzic and his lawyers on Monday asked the Yugoslav war crimes court to acquit the former Bosnian Serb leader on all counts, arguing that no genocide took place in Bosnia in 1992.

“Dr Karadzic requests a judgement of acquittal pursuant to rule 98bis for counts one to 11,” said his lawyer Peter Robinson at a public hearing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

“There was no genocide in the municipalities in Bosnia in 1992... there is no way the trial can conclude that Dr Karadzic is guilty of genocide,” he added. Once the most powerful leader among Bosnian Serbs, Karadzic, 66, faces 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the conflict which left some 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million homeless.—AFP