Four years after his arrest in Bosnia, the former speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament faced the war crimes tribunal charged with eight counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in 1991 and 1992.
The 59-year-old economist sat inscrutably as the prosecutor, Mark Harmon, alleged how the Bosnian Serb leadership, taking its cue from the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, planned and implemented a ruthless and systematic campaign to drive out non-Serbs.
Mr Krajisnik, an intimate associate of Radovan Karadzic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb leader, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and, according to the prosecution, has invoked one procedural wrangle after another to delay appearing in court.
He was originally to be tried as a member of the leading Bosnian Serb troika with Mr Karadzic and Biljana Plavsic.
But Mr Karadzic remains at large. A year ago Plavsic pleaded guilty on reduced charges in a plea bargain and is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in Sweden.
Mr Harmon said Krajisnik was responsible for deploying "the blunt instrument of force" to terrorise and expel non- Serbs.
"He is responsible for massive crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Krajisnik was fully aware of the horrific consequences ... and indifferent to them."
The lengthy opening statement from the prosecution concentrated on the political and organisational preparations for the war in Bosnia and failed to present much new evidence. Most of the planning evidence has already been aired at the ongoing trial of Milosevic and other cases.
Mr Krajisnik was the number two or three in the Bosnian Serb political leadership under Mr Karadzic and gained notoriety for his hardline intransigence throughout the various rounds of diplomacy and negotiations to end the war.
He took part in the Dayton negotiations in the US that ended the war in November 1995, but remained bitterly opposed to the settlement.
Mr Harmon described the defendant as an "unrepentant Serb nationalist leader" who was "shrewd and calculating".
Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor, told the Guardian that Mr Karadzic should have been sitting alongside him in the dock, but she was confident his eight years on the run were coming to an end.
The prosecution's case against Mr Krajisnik would have been made easier if Plavsic had agreed to testify against her former fellow leader. But despite striking a plea bargain with the prosecution more than a year ago Plavsic refuses to testify.
Ms del Ponte admitted she had made "an error" in not insisting on an agreement to testify as part of the Plavsic plea deal.
Mr Krajisnik was at the apex of power among the Bosnian Serbs and enjoyed a good relationship with Mr Milosevic in Belgrade, Mr Harmon argued.
The "paramount leaders of the Bosnian Serbs were guided by Slobodan Milosevic on whose counsel they relied".
The prosecution replayed previously aired tapes of intercepted telephone conversations between Mr Milosevic and Mr Karadzic, who was coordinating policy in Bosnia.