Life term sought for 'Butcher of Bosnia'

Prosecutors yesterday urged UN judges to jail Ratko Mladic for life, accusing the former Serb commander of a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing to create a Greater Serbia in the 1990s Balkans wars.

"It would be... an insult to the victims, living and dead, and an affront to justice to impose any sentence other than the most severe available one: a life sentence," prosecutor Alan Tieger told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Once dubbed "the Butcher of Bosnia", Mladic, 74, has denied 11 charges including two of genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.

More than 100,000 people died and 2.2 million others were left homeless in what prosecutors say was a relentless campaign aimed at chasing all non-Serbs from Bosnian territory with the aim of creating a Greater Serbia.

After living openly in Serbia despite an international arrest warrant against him, Mladic was finally captured in 2011 after 16 years on the run. His trial opened in May 2012.

The defence team will now open three days of closing arguments on Friday and into next week. A verdict and judgement is not expected until some time in 2017.