Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic will boycott the UN war crimes court, his lawyer said today.
Arrested in May after 16 years on the run, Gen Mladic is scheduled to enter a plea tomorrow against charges of genocide during the Bosnian war.
He was formally charged by the Yugoslavia tribunal in The Hague last month when the defiant general rejected war crimes charges against him as "obnoxious" and "monstrous".
The 69-year-old career soldier is due to enter a plea tomorrow, after refusing to do so last month, but Belgrade-based attorney Milos Saljic said he will boycott the hearing to demand that he be represented by his own defence lawyers.
"Mladic is not going to appear in the courtroom tomorrow unless he is forced to. He does not want to do it because he does not have his team of lawyers yet," Mr Saljic saod.
Gen Mladic is accused over a campaign to seize territory for Serbs after Bosnia, following Croatia, broke away from the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s as the Balkan state broke up during five years of war that killed at least 130,000 people.
If Gen Mladic boycotts the hearing or refuses to enter a plea at Monday's hearing, judge Alphens Orie will likely enter one of "not guilty" for him. It is unlikely that the tribunal would force Gen Mladic to appear in court against his will.
"The tribunal has no official indication or confirmation that Mladic is not going to appear so I am unable to comment," court spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said.