International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutors Wednesday asked for a 28-year prison sentence for Vojislav Seselj for his role in atrocities in the 1991-93 Balkan wars.

The prosecution requests a sentence of 28 years, prosecutor Mathias Marcussen said on the third day of closing arguments.

His crimes deserve the punishment of the gravity they reflect, there are no mitigating circumstances, he said.

Seselj faces nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his share in trying to create a greater Serbian state during the early 1990s through the murder and removal of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs in the region.

The ICTY issued an indictment against Seselj in January 2003, and he voluntarily surrendered in February of that year. His trial began in November 2007.

Seselj has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Seventy-two witnesses appeared for the prosecution, nine were called by the trial chamber, while Seselj himself called no witnesses during his trial.

In the meantime, in July 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.

In February 2010, the ICTY charged Seselj with contempt of court for the second time, because he made public the identities of several protected witnesses from the main trial phase.

In May last year, he was once again charged with contempt of court.

Seselj is due to conclude his own defense next week.