Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic thrown out of court

Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has been thrown out of court after arguing with the judge and refusing to co-operate.

He appeared in court Monday at The Hague to enter a plea on 11 charges relating to genocide, but disrupted the proceedings several times and he was ejected, Voice of America reported.

Judge Alphons Orie then  entered "not guilty" pleas on all 11 charges against Mladic who, if convicted, is facing life in jail.

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.

Mladic's court-appointed lawyer, Aleksander Aleksic, asked that the hearing be postponed because he had not expected Mladic to appear, Reuters reports.

Mladic said last week he would boycott the hearing because the court had not yet approved his defense team.

Aleksic requested that he be relieved as defense attorney after the judge refused a delayed hearing. 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.

He was arrested in Serbia in May after being a fugitive for 16 years.

Last month, he appeared in court and called the charges against him "obnoxious" and "monstrous words," and refused to enter a plea.