The prosecution at the UN Yugoslavia tribunal has asked for life sentences against seven former senior Bosnian-Serb military and police officers for their role in the Srebrenica genocide.

Prosecutor Peter McCloskey on  Monday gave his closing arguments at the end of a three-year trial over the 1995 genocide that left almost 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men dead.

He said that not only the actual perpetrators deserve to be punished, but also the Bosnian-Serb authorities who did nothing to stop the the crimes from being committed.

Crucial Role

Amongst the defendants before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are close associates of the fugitive Bosnian-Serb military leader Ratko Mladic. Colonel Ljubise Beara (70) served as the Bosnian-Serb army's chief of security and is said to have played a crucial role in organising the Srebrenica massacre.

In adition to Beara, two other generals who reported directly to Mladic, Radivoje Miletic (61) and Milan Gvero (71), are also accused.

Three other defendants were part of the Bosnian-Serb Drina corps that conquered Srebrenica: lieutenant colonel Vujadin Popovic (52), lieutenant Drago Nikolic (51) and lieutenant colonel Vinko Pandurevic (50). The
seventh person in the case is police commander Ljubomir Borovcanin (49).

The men pleaded not guilty to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by committing "systematic and large scale murder of the male population of Srebrenica".

The supervisor of the seven defendants, general Radislav Krstic was sentenced on appeal to 35 years in prison for complicity in genocide in 2004.

Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Thursday asked the UN tribunal to delay his trial by 10 months to give him time to review nearly 1 million pages of prosecution evidence.

The responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre as part of a policy of "ethnic cleansing" of  non-Serbs is also chief among the allegations against Karadzic.