Genocide, persecution, extermination, war crimes and crimes against humanity: for this series of charges, 22 years after the massacres, the international criminal tribunal in The Hague for crimes in the former Yugoslavia (Tpi) condemned former general Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, to life imprisonment in the first degree.
The international judge was called to rule on the conflict in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995, and in particular on the massacres of Sarajevo, under siege for three years, and of Srebrenica, enclave known for the massacre of 8 Muslims in July '95: eleven days of madness, from 11 to 22 July, which still represent the worst mass execution in Europe since the Second World War.
Before the reading of the sentence there was also time for a fit of anger from the defendant, who was thus removed from the courtroom. The conviction of former general Ratko Mladic, now 74, “is not a verdict against all Serbs. His guilt concerns only him, and only him”, specified the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in The Hague, Serge Brammertz, at the end of the hearing.
Ratko Mladic's lawyers have already announced that they will appeal against the first instance sentence issued today. This was announced by his son Darko Mladic, who defined the decision as "war propaganda. This conviction is unjust and we will fight it on appeal to prove that it is a wrong judgment,” Mladic's son said at a news conference.
