War crimes trial begins for Bosnian

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- It's been 20 years since Elvedin Pasic's father was captured by Serb fighters in the Bosnian war. But 34-year-old Bosnian Muslim, the first witness at the UN trial on Monday of Ratko Mladic, repeatedly broke down in tears as he recalled the trauma of separation.

During the emotional testimony, the former Bosnian Serb military chief sat stone-faced in court, looking straight ahead. He faces 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian war that left 100,000 people dead.

He denies wrongdoing. If convicted in a trial expected to last years, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Pasic, speaking English with an American accent, said he still dreams of a hand waving toward him out the window of a makeshift prison camp in a school where his father was being held, and regrets not having gone to see him one last time when he had the chance. He was 14 years old at the time.

"I was afraid. I didn't [go]," he told judges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, as he broke into tears. "I wish, I wish I would have went."

Mladic is the last top-ranking suspect to go on trial at the UN court that was set up in 1993 as war raged in Bosnia. There was early skepticism about the tribunal's chances of gaining custody of top suspects, but the court eventually got all 161 people it indicted, including alleged masterminds Mladic and his former political master, Radovan Karadzic.

Defense attorneys sought a six-month adjournment; the judges said the prosecution could respond Tuesday to the latest request for a delay. -- AP