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“The indictment, as you know, charges Radovan Karadzic with participation in four separate but related joint criminal enterprises. Number one, the campaing to forcibly remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from vast portions of Bosnia and Hertzgovina, a campaign that rose to genocidal levels in certain municipalities.” (EuroNews)

Prosecutors began presenting their case against Radovan Karadzic at the International Criminal Court in The Hague this week. They accuse him of orchestrating mass killings in 1995 that left more than 10,000 dead in Sarajevo.

We’re following perspectives on what the trial means in Serbia and around the world from France 24, Russia Today, the Times of London, Serbia’s B92 and Radio Netherlands.

A France 24 reporter says families of Karadzic’s alleged victims have gathered outside the trial with one goal in mind, closure.

"They have been waiting 15 years for this, for justice. And certainly the prosecutor says that this case is the only way for them to get any kind of justice…they’re coming out en masse today, I’m told that over 100 people have traveled from Sarajevo.”

Russia Today offers a differing perspective from a member of Karadzic’s legal defense team. He says the prosecution is not driven by real events, but political remorse.

“Behind such an institution as The Hague tribunal there are several world forces, and number one is the United States of America, who is trying to redeem or justify its own bad politics and bad decisions in our region.”

An editorial writer for the Times of London presents a similar view on America’s stance.

“Until summer 1995, when he was finally indicted for war crimes, Radovan Karadzic was Our Friend. Had he manoeuvred a little more…he probably still would be…War criminal or statesman and peacemaker? It’s all a question of timing, it seems.”

But what does the trial mean for the Balkans? Serbian TV station B92 speaks with a local democracy activist who says people there think the prosecution is long overdue.

The trial, "…Will make everybody face up to the past and the events which had marked the 1990’s…something all countries in the Balkans would have to live with for a long period of time."

In The Hague, on the other hand, Radio Netherlands says Karadzic is already fading from Serbs’ minds, and they prefer it that way.

“For the young generation in Bosnia the war is a thing of the past. And even the middle aged Bosnian Muslim population will hardly pay attention to the trial in The Hague. They - as well as the Serbs - feel imprisoned by the past, and want to shake it off.”

News sources around the world have taken conflicting views on the trial. We want to know what you think.