Latest: UN judge says Ratko Mladic is 'the epitome of evil'
Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a United Nations special court found him guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity that it labelled as some of the "most heinous" in human history.
Mladic, 75, was found guilty by the UN's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal of leading forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war - the three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, which was Europe's worst mass killing since the Second World War.
Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has been sentenced to life in prison for the genocide of Bosnian Muslims and other war crimes. pic.twitter.com/eDoCq7JiXI
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 22, 2017
"The crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind," Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said when reading out the court's judgment.
Mladic's lawyers said they planned to appeal.
The convictions were hailed as a victory for international justice by the court's prosecutor and rights groups.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called Mladic "the epitome of evil" and described the prosecution as "the epitome of what international justice is all about."
#Mladic conviction: “Today’s verdict is a warning to the perpetrators of such crimes that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take. They will be held accountable” - #Zeid https://t.co/QcfCzuG1KT pic.twitter.com/hk26Kre9VS
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) November 22, 2017
The verdict, he added, should serve as a warning to other perpetrators of atrocities "that they will not escape justice, no matter how powerful they may be nor how long it may take.
"They will be held accountable."
A three-judge panel at the court, formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, convicted Mladic of 10 out of 11 counts in a dramatic climax to a groundbreaking effort to seek justice for the wars in the former multi-ethnic federation.
Presiding Judge Orie read key parts of the judgment after ordering Mladic out of the courtroom for the final verdict over an angry outburst.
Ratko Mladic gave an angry outburst before The Hague convicted him of genocide and crimes against humanity. pic.twitter.com/mrn46nFrAt
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 22, 2017
Survivors known as the Mothers of Srebrenica, clapped when the convictions were read out.
Mladic's son Darko dismissed the convictions, saying: "I'm not surprised".
"The court was totally biased from the start."
Mladic's son said judges obstructed defence lawyers in presenting evidence exculpating his father.
"This judgment is wrong, it does not achieve anything ... and will be an obstacle to future normal life in the region," he said.
Bosniaks and Serbs watched from near and far as the long-awaited climax approached.
Today's judgment marks the end of the final trial at the tribunal, which was set up in 1993, while fierce fighting was still raging in Bosnia. The court will close its doors by the end of the year.
Tens of thousands of victims of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been waiting more than 20 years for justice. But today former war leader #Mladic has finally been convicted for genocide. Impunity will not be tolerated! https://t.co/v03HSlXRTu pic.twitter.com/Y14YyN3fmb
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) November 22, 2017
Emotions ran high outside the courtroom, with a small skirmish reflecting lingering tensions between Serbs and Bosniaks over the trial and the war.
Despite ailing health, Mladic looked relaxed, greeting lawyers, crossing himself and giving a thumbs-up to photographers in court. He nodded regularly as Orie read out descriptions of atrocities by Bosnian Serb forces, one by one.
But midway through the hearing Mladic's lawyer, Dragan Ivetic, asked for a delay because the general was suffering high blood pressure.
The judge refused, and Mladic burst out with criticism and was manhandled out of the room by guards to watch the rest of the hearing in a separate room via a video link.
"I was not impressed," Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.
"I think that many of the survivors in the courtroom and seeing him had also very high blood pressure and, as you have seen when he left, when he started speaking, it was not about his health but much more I think trying to insult the judges."
Judge Orie said the court confirmed that "genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica" in 1995.
Previous judgments have said it was genocide. However, Judge Orie said the court is not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments.
Mr Brammertz said he would study the lengthy written judgment before deciding whether to appeal the single acquittal.
The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the country's break-up in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Mladic went into hiding for around 10 years before his arrest in Serbia in May 2011.
Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic was also convicted last year for genocide and sentenced to 40 years.
He has appealed against the ruling. The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial.
In Lazarevo, the small Serbian village where Mladic was arrested in 2011, residents dismissed the guilty verdict against him as biased.
Villagers said they do not recognize the tribunal, which they say has sought to solely blame Serbs for the crimes of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
Igor Topolic said he was horrified by the convictions, calling Mladic a "Serbian national hero."
For a former prisoner of Serb-run camps in northwestern Bosnia who was in The Hague to see justice in action, the verdict was sweet relief.
Fikret Alic, who became a symbol of the horrors in Bosnia when his skeletal frame behind barbed wire in a Bosnian Serb camp was featured in front-page photos published in Time magazine in 1992, said: "Justice has won, and the war criminal has been convicted."
Ratko Mladic is to appeal against his war crimes tribunal convictions, his defence lawyer said.
A UN war crimes tribunal has convicted Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic of genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
A UN judge has adjourned the reading of the judgment against Ratko Mladic and ordered him to be removed from court after an angry outburst by Mladic.
The United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has confirmed that genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, but has yet to rule on whether Bosnian Serb military chief General Ratko Mladic was responsible.
The court found that "genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and the inhuman act of forcible transfer were committed in or around Srebrenica" in 1995, said presiding judge Alphons Orie.
Previous judgments said the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern town was genocide.
But the court in The Hague has now said it is not convinced of genocidal intent in six other municipalities, in line with previous judgments.
The court will rule later on whether Mladic is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. He insists he is innocent.
Supporters of Mladic have put up posters in Bosnia praising him.
Posters in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac carried a photo of Mladic in military attire with the words "you are our hero" written above.
Some former soldiers who fought under him came together to watch the pronouncement of the tribunal on whether he is guilty of genocide and other crimes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
And survivors of the massacre gathered at the memorial centre to also watch the live TV broadcast from the courtroom.
The United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is set to pass judgment on former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during Bosnia's devastating 1992-95 war.
Mladic, who faces 11 counts, stands accused of commanding forces responsible for crimes including the worst atrocities of the war - the deadly three-year siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, which was Europe's worst mass killing since the Second World War.
A three-judge panel at the court formally known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia will rule on whether the 75-year-old former general is guilty or innocent. If they convict him, they will immediately pass sentence.
Prosecutors have sought a life sentence, while Mladic's defence lawyers say he should be acquitted on all counts.
The judgment marks the end of the tribunal's final trial. The groundbreaking court was set up in 1993 while fierce fighting was still raging in Bosnia.
The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the break-up of the multi-ethnic federation in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia.
More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995.
Mladic's political master during the war, former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, was convicted last year for masterminding atrocities in Bosnia and sentenced to 40 years. He has appealed against the ruling.
The man widely blamed for fomenting wars across the Balkans, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his UN cell in 2006 before tribunal judges could reach verdicts in his trial.
Mladic went into hiding after the war and remained a fugitive until his arrest in Serbia in May 2011.
Long before the hearing in The Hague started today, survivors began gathering outside the court.
Fikret Alic, a Bosnian man who became a figurehead for the suffering of Bosnians during the war when he was photographed as an emaciated prisoner behind the wire of a Bosnian Serb prison camp, was among those waiting to watch the hearing.
"I expect justice and truth and that he is convicted ... for genocide," Mr Alic said.
AP
