THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic launched the defense case in his long-running U.N. trial Monday with the testimony of a former Serb army officer who claimed he was never ordered to fire on civilians in the besieged Bosnian capital during the country’s bloody war.

The testimony of Mile Sladoje, a wartime Serb military commander in Sarajevo, likely set the tone for Mladic’s attempt to clear his name of charges that he was responsible for a string of Serb atrocities throughout the bloody 1992-1995 conflict.