Former Bosnian Serb army general Ratko Mladic appeared before the UN Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague today on charges of genocide. He is definitely not impressed by the war crimes with which he has been charged, using the words ‘obnoxious’ and ‘monstrous’ to describe some of them. Without a hint of irony. He was just defending his country, he said.

Mladic, who was has been on the run for 16 years until his recent arrest, has been accused of spearheading Serb atrocities during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. He faces 11 charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

He chose not to have the full indictment of war crimes read to him by the court this morning, saying, “I’m a gravely ill man”. He certainly appears frail physically, but less so in spirit.

Mladic added, “I defended my people, my country… now I am defending myself. I just have to say that I want to live to see that I am a free man”.

[Source: Sky News]