Accused of atrocities against humanity, former Bosnian-Serb wartime leader, Radovan Karadzic opens his defence with a defiant statement.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) ACCUSED, RADOVAN KARADZIC, SAYING:<br/> <br />"Instead of being accused for happenings in our civil war, I should have been rewarded, and here is why: because I did everything in human power to avoid the war."<br/> <br />One of three former Bosnian Serb leaders brought to trial in the Hague, the 67-year-old is charged with responsibility for shelling Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in the 1990s.<br/> <br />Karadzic's statement prompted outrage among victims' families in Bosnia.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) KADA HOTIC WHO LOST HER SON AND HUSBAND IN 1995 SREBRENICA MASSACRE, SAYING:<br/> <br />"He is mocking us. I don't know if he is pretending to be insane or whether he is really trying to convince people that what he is saying is true."<br/> <br />Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serb government, before going on the run, was acquitted of one count of genocide in June, but still faces 10 other charges.<br/> <br />More than 100,000 were killed and millions displaced following the break up of Yugoslavia in 1991.
