Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army chief, on trial

**SageTree** · 07-04-2011, 07:55 AM

UN court enters 'not guilty' pleas for Mladic
Ex-Bosnian Serb general removed from courtroom after disrupting judge's attempts to read out the charges against him.

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Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army chief, has been removed from the UN war crimes court at The Hague after refusing to enter a plea and disrupting the judge's attempts to read out the charges against him.

Judge Alphons Orie of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is handling the case, later entered formal pleas of not guilty on behalf of Mladic to the various charges against him.

These charges include genocide, and relate to the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Europe's worst massacre since World War II.

Having threatened to boycott his second hearing, Mladic did appear in court on Monday. But he spent several minutes demanding different legal representation and requesting a delay before having to plead.

"No, no, I'm not going to listen to this without my lawyer," Mladic shouted as he removed his translation headphones when Judge Orie began reading out the charges.

"Who are you? You're not allowing me to breathe."

'Smiling and gesturing'

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rachel Irwin, international justice reporter at the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, said: "The judge was really not willing to let him [Mladic] hijack the proceedings. He ordered him out of the courtroom.

"In the past they would have allowed more stalling for comments.

"It was clear from the beginning that Mladic was not going to co-operate today: he kept looking at the gallery, smiling and gesturing. But the judge made it clear that this is a court and we need to proceed and if you interrupt, then you have to leave."

Mladic was represented by a court-appointed lawyer. Judge Orie said the court would look into allowing him to be represented in future by other lawyers of his choice.

Al Jazeera's correspondent, Andrew Simmons, reported from outside the Hague court, said: "They are now waiting for a lawyer to be appointed and they say that the delay is from Mladic.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons updates from The Hague

"He is going to appoint a lawyer from Belgrade and another one from Russia. He could change his pleas, if he wished to, within three months."

Tracked down, arrested and extradited from Serbia in May after 16 years on the run, Mladic, 69, defiantly rejected war crimes charges against him as "obnoxious" and "monstrous" when he was formally charged at the war crimes court last month.

Mladic is accused of orchestrating a campaign to seize territory for Serbs after Bosnia and Herzegovina, following Croatia, broke away from the Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

At least 130,000 people died in the conflicts that followed.

The former soldier has said he was only defending his country and people during the Bosnia war, which lasted from 1992 to 1995.

Serge Brammertz, a Hague prosecutor, has said Mladic used his power to commit brutal atrocities and must answer for it.

But Serb nationalists believe Mladic defended the nation and did no worse than Croat or Bosnian Muslim army commanders.

Source:Al Jazeera

**Home Wrecker** · 07-05-2011, 05:50 PM

I like what Christopher Hitchens said about the serbs in like 92 or 93. Paraphrasing roughly it was something like, "They have the potential to become that most dangerous and volatile of things; a self-pitying majority."

**SageTree** · 07-05-2011, 05:59 PM

The brief time I spent in Belgrade talking with people, the impression I got was that they were halted unjustly and that there wasn't a great deal of any misdoings on their part, much to my surprise. Maybe I didn't expect people to address it so boldly or current.

**SageTree** · 07-05-2011, 06:05 PM

To be clear, I want to make sure the 'in my experience' is well noted. I'm not trying to take a broad swipe at any whole nation.

07-05-2011, 05:50 PM	#2 (permalink)
Home Wrecker material boy Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ishmaelia Posts: 4,776 Thanks: 1,625 Thanked 853 Times in 421 Posts	I like what Christopher Hitchens said about the serbs in like 92 or 93. Paraphrasing roughly it was something like, "They have the potential to become that most dangerous and volatile of things; a self-pitying majority." __________________ Mr. Pink: You kill anybody? Mr. White: A few cops. Mr. Pink: No real people? Mr. White: Just cops.

07-05-2011, 05:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
SageTree ~Kalyāṇa-mitrā~ Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In Love Posts: 23,414 Blog Entries: 26 Thanks: 13,070 Thanked 6,769 Times in 4,664 Posts	The brief time I spent in Belgrade talking with people, the impression I got was that they were halted unjustly and that there wasn't a great deal of any misdoings on their part, much to my surprise. Maybe I didn't expect people to address it so boldly or current. __________________ "What's oppressive is letting your life be confined by old definitions of what everything is." -Zen Meister my_scatterheart YaHooka is.... Cannabis lovers from around the world pulling up a comfy chair, picking up a vaporizer, a bong, a brownie, a pipe, or a joint, getting high, stoned, buzzed or healthy. Uniting our minds in conversation...While Portraying a Positive Image of marijuana and marijuana users to the world. Treat your fellow YaHookans with kindness,respect and tolerance.

07-05-2011, 06:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
SageTree ~Kalyāṇa-mitrā~ Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: In Love Posts: 23,414 Blog Entries: 26 Thanks: 13,070 Thanked 6,769 Times in 4,664 Posts	To be clear, I want to make sure the 'in my experience' is well noted. I'm not trying to take a broad swipe at any whole nation. __________________ "What's oppressive is letting your life be confined by old definitions of what everything is." -Zen Meister my_scatterheart YaHooka is.... Cannabis lovers from around the world pulling up a comfy chair, picking up a vaporizer, a bong, a brownie, a pipe, or a joint, getting high, stoned, buzzed or healthy. Uniting our minds in conversation...While Portraying a Positive Image of marijuana and marijuana users to the world. Treat your fellow YaHookans with kindness,respect and tolerance.

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