Mladic to appear in court on July 4

Wartime Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic will appear again before a UN court on July 4, when he will be required to enter a plea to genocide and war crimes charges. He refused to enter a plea to genocide and war crimes charges in a UN court on Friday, denouncing the allegations against him as “obnoxious”.

“I would like to read and receive these obnoxious charges against me. I want to read it with my lawyers,” Mladic said on his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia since his arrest last week after 16 years on the run.

“I need more than a month for these monstrous words that I have never heard of,” the ex-general said of the claims, telling a judge he would delay entering a plea. Judge Alphons Orie set July 4 as the date for Mladic’s next appearance, by when he will be required to enter pleas on the 11 charges against him.