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 The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan"Mr Krajisnik appeared calm as he entered the court and posed for photographers"  real 28k Hague Tribunal Spokesman Paul Risley"The very highest and most serious charges" real 28k |
It was Momcilo Krajisnik's first appearance at the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.
Mr Krajisnik, 55, appeared calm as he entered the court and posed for photographers.
The former close ally of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was arrested at his home in Pale, near Sarajevo, on Monday.
As former speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament during the 1992 - 1995 Bosnia conflict, Mr Krajisnik is the highest ranking political figure to be apprehended by the tribunal.
He is charged with being responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity during the war.
The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, said she expects to call 80 witnesses in the case, which is adjourned until July.
Secret indictment
Mr Krajisnik was arrested under a secret indictment issued by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Witnesses said French troops with the Nato-led peacekeeping force blew down his door before dawn on Monday and led him away barefoot in his pyjamas.
He was flown to The Hague on a Nato plane after being arrested.
The prosecutor had charged him in February, alleging that together with Radovan Karadzic and others, he was responsible for war crimes committed against Muslims and Croats in 1991 and 1992.
Momcilo Krajisnik is accused of failing to prevent Bosnian Serb forces from carrying out alleged atrocities when they claimed territory as part of the Serbian Republic.
 Explosives damage to Mr Krajisnik's door after his arrest |
He is said to have exerted considerable influence over the Bosnian Serb leadership in the later stages of the war.
After the war ended in 1995, he served as the Serb representative on the three-member Bosnian presidency, along with a Croat and a Muslim.
Belgrade appearance
Mr Krajisnik's arrest brings to 41 the number of suspects who have been brought to the tribunal.
The tribunal's two main Bosnian Serb suspects, Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladic, are still at large. Mr Karadzic is in hiding.
General Ratko Mladic - believed to be behind the killing of 7,000 people at Srebrenica in 1995 - is reported to have been seen attending a football match between the Yugoslav and Chinese national teams in Belgrade last week.
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