WAR CRIMES

Mladic Applauds Self in Court

As film of his violent past is shown.

Before his trial was suspended indefinitely Thursday due to the prosecution's errors, former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic nodded, smiled and clapped his hands on his lap as 16-year-old footage was shown at his U.N. war crimes tribunal. The film showed the “butcher of Bosnia” screaming at a Dutch general, demanding to know why he authorized NATO planes to bomb advancing Serbian forces. After the footage, Mladic signaled a time-out and the tribunal broke for five minutes. The trial is turning to Mladic’s involvement in a massacre of Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica region, a U.N. safe haven for Bosnian Muslims who had fled the conflict. The Dutch withdrew when it was clear Bosnian Serb forces were overrunning them, and 8,500 people were killed within a few days.