War crimes suspect Hadzic refuses to enter plea in court

THE wartime leader of Croatia’s rebel Serbs declined to enter a plea yesterday in his first court appearance to face charges of murdering hundreds of Croats and expelling tens of thousands, in the final case to reach the UN’s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.

Goran Hadzic, 52, was the last fugitive among 161 military and political leaders of the Balkans conflicts indicted by the court since it was created in 1993 while the Yugoslav republics were still in flames.

His capture in a northern Serbian village clears the way for the court to close its doors when it concludes the current trials and appeals, probably in 2015.