U.N. Court Clears Bosnian Serb General of Contempt

A former Bosnian Serb general who directed the attack on Srebrenica during Bosnia's 1992-95 war was on Thursday cleared of contempt of court for refusing to testify in the trial of the man accused of masterminding the incident.

Radislav Krstic, 65, currently serving a 35-year sentence for aiding and abetting genocide at Srebrenica, again faced U.N. Yugoslav war crimes court judges in The Hague after he declined to give evidence in defense of former top Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

Karadzic, 68, is currently on trial and faces 11 charges, including two of genocide for his role in the Balkans country's bloody inter-ethnic war in which 100,000 people died and some 2.2 million others were left without a home.

The former politician is in particular accused of masterminding genocide at the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in mid-July 1995, where almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves.

The attack on Srebrenica, which Krstic oversaw together with Karadzic's fellow accused, former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, was the worst atrocity committed on European soil since World War II.

But on Thursday Judge Melville Baird said the court accepted Krstic's excuse for refusing, saying he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that his health would deteriorate should he be forced to take the stand.

"Accordingly from the medical testimony and the reports before it, the chamber is satisfied that the accused suffers from PTSD, the judge said.

"The severity of the medical condition of the accused and the possible aggravation... would amount to a reasonable excuse for the refusal of the accused to testify," the judge added, before pronouncing Krstic not guilty.

Subpoenaed by Karadzic to testify, it is believed that Krstic's testimony could shed light on whether Karadzic was aware of the killings at Srebrenica.

Karadzic himself has denied the allegations.