Hague: Appeal hearing for Ratko Mladic

Prosecutors called on UN judges on Wednesday to issue life sentence for former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for war crimes, including genocide, while his lawyers sought his release or retrial.

Mladic, 77, was commander of Bosnian Serb forces during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-95, and judges found him responsible for being at the helm of forces, which killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.

“Srebrenica was Mladic's operation, and the court rightly concluded that he was criminally responsible for these crimes,” Prosecutor Laurel Baig said on the second day of the final session of the presentation.

During the prosecutor's word, Mladic waved his head repeatedly in a sign of disapproval.

Judges found Mladic responsible for the “ethnic cleansing campaigns against Bosnian Muslims and Croats, as well as the murder and terrorisation of civilians in the capital Sarajevo during a 43-month siege, as part of the plan to create “Greater Serbia” with the remaining territories of the former Yugoslavia.

Any illegal murder in Srebrenica that occurred outside the fighting is punishable, but they do not concern Mr. Mladic,” said defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic during arguments he presented Tuesday.

The appeals hearing is being held at a UN court in The Hague, set up to hear the remaining complaints and cases by the Court for the former Yugoslavia, which closed in 2017.

The procedure was broadcast on video due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appeal judges are expected to set the date for making the decision, likely in 2021. / VOA/