Mladic lawyers call for his acquittal at UN genocide trial
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - This is a Monday Dec. 5, 2016 file photo of Former Bosnian Serb military chief General Ratko Mladic looks across the court room at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague Netherlands in this image taken from video. Gen. Ratko Mladic's defense team called on United Nations judges Tuesday Dec. 13, 2016 to acquit the former Bosnian Serb military chief, arguing that prosecutors failed to prove he orchestrated atrocities by Serb forces under his command during the Bosnian War. (ICTY Video, File via AP) (The Associated Press)
Defense lawyers for Gen. Ratko Mladic have called on U.N. judges to acquit the former Bosnian Serb military chief, arguing that prosecutors at his long-running trial failed to prove that Mladic was guilty of orchestrating atrocities by Serb forces throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian War.
Defense lawyer Dragan Ivetic on Tuesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that "we believe the only fair and just outcome is an acquittal due to the fact the prosecution has failed to meet its burden of proof as to Gen. Ratko Mladic."
Prosecutors last week demanded that Mladic be convicted and given a life sentence, telling judges that any shorter sentence would be "an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice."