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(CNN) -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic defended himself Tuesday against charges of genocide, taking hostages and unlawful attack on civilians during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Karadzic is standing trial the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. One of his key charges stems from the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

Timeline: From 'president' to accused war criminal

Karadzic participated in a "joint criminal enterprise (JCE) to permanently remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed as Bosnian Serb territory," according to tribunal.

The Srebrenica massacre became an emblem for the dissolution of Yugoslavia -- once a multiethnic state of Serbs, Croats, Muslims and others -- into six countries during a bloody and brutal conflict in the early 1990s.

The 1992-95 Bosnian conflict was the longest of the wars spawned by the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Read more: Genocide count dropped in Karadzic trial

Backed by the government of then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnian Serb forces seized control of more than half the country and launched a campaign against the Muslim and Croat populations.

After hiding in plain sight for more than 13 years, Karadzic was captured in Belgrade in 2008. He had adopted an elaborate disguise that included long hair and a full beard, and was practicing alternative medicine in the Serbian capital.

Karadzic's former military commander, Ratko Mladic, was captured last year and is also on trial for charges such as genocide.

Both men would face life in prison if convicted. The court cannot impose the death penalty.