Ratko Mladic Convicted of Genocide, Jailed for Life

The UN court in The Hague convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic of the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to life

Ratko Mladic during wartime. Photo: Anadolu.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic guilty on Wednesday of genocide and crimes against humanity, convicting him of some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II and jailing him for life.

Mladic, 74, was convicted of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, the persecution and extermination of Bosniaks and Croats across the country, terrorising the population of Sarajevo with a campaign of shelling and sniper attacks, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

But he was acquitted of committing genocide in six other Bosnian municipalities in 1992.

Mladic was removed from the courtroom at one point after disrupting proceedings by shouting at the judges.

He became angry after they refused his defence lawyer’s request to cut short the proceedings because of his high blood pressure.

When the judge announced that Mladic was sentenced to life in prison, Bosnian war victims who were in the courtroom applauded.

“It shows that you cannot commit crimes with impunity,” Fikret Grabovica from the Association of Parents Whose Children were Killed in Wartime, a Bosnian war victims’ group, told BIRN.

But Mladic’s son Darko accused the Hague court of bias against his father.

“I’m not surprised [about the verdict]. The court was totally biased from the start,” the Telegraph newspaper quoted him as saying.

Source:balkaninsight.com