"The entire indictment against me is slander," Martic said in a brief address, claiming that the prosecution had amended the initial indictment against him for the shelling of Zagreb to include ethnic cleansing campaigns in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1991 to 1995 at "the suggestion of the Croatian media".
Martic went on to say that the reason why prosecutor Alex Whiting of the United States had sought a life sentence for him was "because his country participated in the expulsion" of the Serb population and was now trying to find a way to justify it.
In its closing arguments on Wednesday, the prosecution sought a life sentence for Martic, saying that the gravity of the crimes and the long period of time during which they had been committed justified the harshest sentence envisaged by the tribunal's statute.
The defence did not complete its closing arguments today because the trial chamber cut short the address by Martic's attorney when the time he was given for the closing arguments expired.
The attorney said that Martic was innocent and requested his acquittal.
As on Thursday, defence attorney Predrag Milovancevic dedicated most of his time to explaining to the judges that the "forcible secession of Croatia" was the reason for the subsequent developments, rather than "some sick idea of the Serb leadership, as claimed by the prosecution", and that "the entire world has been misled" in that regard.
Martic, former minister of the interior and president of the self-styled Republic of Serb Krajina, is charged with 19 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.
The indictment says that from August 1991 until August 1995, while participating in a joint criminal enterprise, Martic ordered and instigated persecutions, extermination, murders, imprisonment, torture, deportation, wanton destruction and plunder in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The alleged purpose of the joint criminal enterprise, led by former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, was the forcible and permanent removal of the non-Serb population from the Serb-held areas of Croatia.
Martic is also charged with the shelling of the Croatian capital in May 1995 and with a series of other crimes that left hundreds of Croatian civilians killed.
Martic has been in the tribunal's custody since May 15, 2002. His trial began on December 13, 2005.