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    July 04, 2011

Mladic Ejected from War Crimes Court

   VOA News
   Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic appears in court at the
   International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
   Hague, June 4, 2011
   Photo: Reuters
   Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic appears in court at the
   International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
   Hague, June 4, 2011

   Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic appeared in court Monday
   at The Hague to enter a plea on 11 charges, but was ejected after
   disrupting the proceedings several times.
   Mladic's court-appointed lawyer, Aleksander Aleksic, then requested a
   postponement, because he had not expected his client to appear. Mladic
   said last week he would boycott the hearing because the court had not
   yet approved his defense team.
   Judge Alphons Orie refused the request and - after Mladic was removed
   from the courtroom - entered "not guilty" pleas on all 11 charges
   against Mladic.
   Aleksic then requested that he be relieved as defense attorney. The
   judge said he would consider the request, depending on whether the
   defense could deliver all relevant information to a new legal team.
   The hearing was adjourned without any decision on when Mladic's trial
   would begin.
   Mladic is accused of orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of
   8,000 Muslim men and boys - Europe's worst mass killing since World War
   II - and the 44-month siege of Bosnia's capital city, Sarajevo, in
   which 10,000 people died.
   If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
   He was arrested in Serbia in May after being a fugitive for 16 years.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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