The former Bosnian Serb leader has opened his defence before the United Nations war crimes tribunal where he will plead that he did not what crimes were being committed in his name.
He told the court that, contrary to the commonly held view, he had actually intervened to reduce human suffering, by seeking peace agreements, taking humanitarian measures and honouring international law.
"I'm a mild and tolerant man with a great capacity for understanding others," said Karadzic, a psychiatrist and poet by profession.
"Instead of being accused, I should have been rewarded for all the good things I have done.
"I did everything in human power to avoid the war. I succeeded in reducing the suffering of all civilians. I proclaimed numerous unilateral ceasefires and military containment. And I stopped our army many times when they were close to victory."
Speaking calmly, he insisted that the number of victims of the war was up to four times less than reported in "lies and propaganda" and accused Muslims of staging mortar bomb atocities in Sarajevo.
Karadzic argued that he did all he could to avoid war but that Serbs were pushed into conflict by armed attacks by Muslim fundamentalists, leading to the break-up of multi-ethnic Bosnia.
"The beginning of the fighting, the beginning of the war had nothing to do with me," he said. "Nobody thought there would be genocide in Bosnia."
"The only crime I should be put on trial for is political stupidity and excessive trust in the Muslims."
Bütün xəbərlər Facebook səhifəmizdə
USD
EUR
GBP
RUB