Hadzic pleads not guilty

Former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges including the massacre of civilians taken from Vukovar hospital in one of the darkest episodes of the country’s 1992-95 war.

“Not guilty, your honour,” Hadzic told judge Guy Delvoie of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, when asked to plead to the charges.

“A date will be set for the commencement of the trial,” the judge told Hadzic, who was dressed in a dark suit, light-coloured shirt and dark blue and white-striped tie, listening intently to the proceedings.

The trial is not expected to start for months while Hadzic’s defence team studies the evidence gathered by the prosecution.