THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? U.N. judges threw Ratko Mladic out of his own arraignment Monday after the former Bosnian Serb military chief shouted at them, defied their orders and refused to enter any plea to 11 charges of masterminding the worst atrocities of the Bosnian war.
With Mladic's chair in the courtroom empty, Presiding Judge Alphons Orie entered not guilty pleas on his behalf, in line with the war crimes tribunal's rules for suspects who refuse to plead.
Mladic's contemptuous display drew anger from survivors of the 1992-95 Bosnian war and raised the prospect of another turbulent U.N. court trial that may offer victims more heartache than justice.
In Srebrenica, the Bosnian town where Mladic is accused of commanding troops who in 1995 killed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Europe's worst massacre since World War II, survivor Fadila Efendic called Mladic's behavior salt in her wounds.
"We are made to suffer, to mourn our children, we are forced to watch him make a circus in the court," she said. "This should be a short trial, he should be treated the way he treated our children, how he treated thousands of innocent people ... killed at his orders."
Mladic's courtroom belligerence came just a week before solemn commemorations in Srebrenica marking the 16th anniversary of the massacre. Next Monday, 600 more bodies unearthed in the last year from mass graves in the hills surrounding the town and identified using DNA will be laid to rest at a cemetery for Srebrenica victims. Later this week, mourners will begin a three-day peace march through the Srebrenica woods where Muslim men and boys tried to flee the slaughter.
The 69-year-old Mladic had threatened to boycott Monday's hearing, only his second public appearance since Serbia extradited him to The Hague in late May, because the court had not appointed Belgrade lawyer Milos Saljic and a Russian lawyer as his trial attorneys.
Shortly before guards escorted Mladic from court, he shouted at Orie, "You want to impose my defense, what kind of a court are you?"
He continued yelling in Serbian, "You are not allowing me to defend myself! ... you are not allowing me to breathe."
The judge told him the court's registry was studying Mladic's request to be represented by the lawyers.
When Orie began reading out the charges, Mladic said, "No, no, no! Don't read it to me, not another word," and pulled off his earphones, slumping back in his seat with a frown. After Orie warned him to be quiet or he would be removed, Mladic shot back: "Remove me."
Such bursts of defiance are not new at the tribunal. Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and other high ranking suspects attempted to use their trials to discredit the court and promote nationalist ideologies. Milosevic died of a heart attack in 2006 before a verdict could be reached in his case.
Legal expert Mark Ellis, the executive director of the International Bar Association, said Orie will attempt to give victims a sense of justice by reining in Mladic's antics, while at the same time ensuring his legal rights are protected.
"Orie will not permit Mladic to take over these court proceedings and hopefully in preventing Mladic from doing so the court will be able to provide witnesses a sense of justice, but it's difficult," Ellis said.
Saljic, the Belgrade lawyer, said Mladic's defiant courtroom performance demonstrated that he is not mentally fit to stand trial.
"Let them now see for themselves his behavior and let them decide accordingly," Saljic told The Associated Press in Belgrade.
Saljic has previously said Mladic is not physically fit for the rigors of a long trial after suffering two strokes during nearly 16 years on the run as one of Europe's most-wanted fugitives.
Saljic added that he does not believe he could represent Mladic at the U.N. court.
"I'm not a real candidate. I don't speak English," Saljic said. "He's insisting on me because I have been his lawyer all of his life."
Hundreds of people gathered in the main square of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, to watch a live broadcast of the hearing, cheering and shouting "The monster is gone!" as Mladic was escorted out of the courtroom.
But in Pale, a mountain village that was a Bosnian Serb stronghold during the war, Bosnian Serb veterans defended Mladic.
"My commander, general Ratko Mladic is a Serb hero," said Novica Kapuran. "I think this is a shame, a shame on judge Orie, on (the) Hague tribunal."
Victims who traveled to The Hague were not surprised by Mladic's behavior.
"He showed who he is and what he is like. He displayed no regret and doesn't want justice for the victims," said Hatidia Mehmedovic, a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre.
At his first hearing in June, Mladic enraged war survivors in the public gallery by looking at them and drawing his finger across his throat.
After entering the pleas Monday, Orie adjourned the hearing without setting a date for trial or scheduling another hearing. It is likely any lawyers Mladic requests that meet the registry's requirements will be approved quickly, and then judges can set a date for the next pretrial hearing.
Orie told court-appointed lawyer Aleksander Aleksic that he should inform Mladic of his not-guilty pleas and advise him that he can change them at any time.
If convicted, Mladic could face a sentence of up to life in prison.
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Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Amer Cohadzic and Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam contributed to this report.
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