[JURIST] Momcilo Mandic, the former Bosnian Serb justice minister in the wartime government under Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder], pleaded not guilty [press release] at the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [HRW backgrounder] on Tuesday to charges [JURIST report] of war crimes, crimes against humanity, embezzlement and fraud. Mandic was charged in connection with his efforts to offer Karadzic financial support while in hiding and in connection with Mandic's management of correctional facilities in the Serb-controlled area of Bosnia, which allegedly illegally imprisoned many non-Serbs. Officials arrested Mandic last August [JURIST report].

Karadzic and former army chief Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] are wanted by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] for alleged crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including organizing the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more.