Page last updated at 22:14 GMT, Monday, 21 July 2008 23:14 UK

Karadzic and Mladic: The charges

Radovan Karadzic (l) and Ratko Mladic (undated file image)
Radovan Karadzic (left) was Ratko Mladic's wartime commander
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have both been charged and indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

They face numerous counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of war in Bosnia-Hercegovina between April 1992 and July 1995.

There are 11 counts against Mr Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb political leader, and 15 against Mr Mladic, who commanded the Bosnian Serb army.

The indictment says they were responsible for persecution of Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) and Bosnian Croat civilians on national, political and religious grounds.

The tribunal says Mr Karadzic's and Mr Mladic's squads killed more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims captured around Srebrenica in July 1995.

Persecution of Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) and Bosnian Croat civilians
Targeting of political leaders, intellectuals and professionals
Unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians
Unlawful shelling of civilians
Unlawful appropriation and plunder of property
Destruction of homes and businesses
Destruction of places of worship

"Bosnian Serb forces executed thousands of Bosnian Muslim men in an organised, widespread and systematic manner", the indictment says.

It says Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic are responsible for the unlawful confinement, murder, rape and inhumane treatment of the non-Serb civilian population in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Detainees were terrorised by random brutality and sexual violence, it says.

It lists detention facilities - such as Omarska, Keraterm and Luka - where Bosniaks and Croats were detained, and says the camp commanders were accountable to Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic.

In many instances, women and girls were repeatedly raped in the camps.

Food rations and medical care in the prisons were inadequate.

Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic are also accused of shelling Sarajevo, and of using 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995.

For 44 months the forces under their command "used shelling and sniping to kill, maim, wound and terrorise the civilian inhabitants of Sarajevo," the indictment says.

Both men are charged with the unlawful appropriation and destruction of property and places of worship.

The tribunal also accuses Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic of committing grave breaches and violations of the laws or customs of war.

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