The prosecution in the genocide trial of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic filed a final, shortened charge sheet Monday, a week before the start of his trial before a UN court.

The 40-page document filed with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and made available to the media, details 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

According to the indictment, Karadzic was one of the authors of a plan to "permanently remove" Bosnian Muslims and Croats from Bosnian Serb-claimed territory.
 

It details allegations of two counts of genocide, including for the July 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.
 

It also lists allegations of persecution, extermination, murder, rape, and deportation committed in 19 Bosnian municipalities, as well as during the 44 -month siege of Sarajevo that left some 10,000 people dead.
 

UN peacekeeper hostages

Also included is a war crimes charge for taking hostage some 200 United Nations peacekeepers in order to prevent NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serb military targets.
 

The initial indictment had listed crimes in 41 municipalities, repeatedly reduced until the current 19 after ICTY judges ordered the prosecution to narrow the charge sheet down so as to speed up the trial.
 

The trial of 64-year-old Karadzic, arrested on a Belgrade bus in July last year after 13 years on the run, is set to start next Monday in spite of his protestations demanding extra preparation time.
 

It is expected to conclude in 2012, with 300 hours having been set aside for the prosecution to present its case.
 

Karadzic, who denies all the charges against him, risks life in jail. He will present his own defence at trial.
 

Bosnia's inter-ethnic 1992-95 war cost an estimated 100,000 lives.
 

Source: AFP