Srbenica Massacre - The Trial of Ratko Mladic

Ratko Mladic is the Serb Commander that has been charged with slaughtering up to 7,000 Muslim men in the town of Srbenica in July 1995.  After escaping capture for some 15 years, Mladic was arrested  on May 26th 2011 in Lazarevo, near Zrenjanin in the Banat region in northern Serbia. His arrest was carried out by two dozen Serbian special police officers wearing black uniforms and masks, and sporting no insignia. The police were accompanied by Security Information Agency and War Crimes Prosecutor's Office agents.

He was asked to identify himself after the arrest and was taken to Belgrade to appear in front of the Belgrade High Court.  Although his defence lawyer tried to persuade the court that he was unable to confirm his personal data, the prosecutor succeeded in convincing the court to rule on having him extradited to The Hague on May 27th.  His trial in The Hague opened yesterday, May 16th, and was suspended on May 17th.

Mladic faces 11 charges, including genocide.  A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.  Since the genocide in Srbenica have never been in dispute, the prosecutors said that they would focus on Mladic's individual responsibility.  Peter McClosky said that the Serbian Army was not an army out of control and that Mladic was on the ground and in command.

 "We have radio intercepts of VRS [Bosnian Serb] soldiers and officers discussing murders. We have video of two of the actual executions themselves. So let me be perfectly clear, the crime will not be the main focus of this prosecution. This case will be primarily about one issue. The individual criminal responsibility of Ratko Mladic," McClosky said.

The prosecution has now completed its opening statements.  Due to a prosecution error, which did not disclose all evidence available, the proceedings have been suspended indefinitely.

Judge Orie said: "In light of the prosecution's significant disclosure errors... the chamber hereby informs the parties that it has decided to suspend the start of the presentation of evidence.

The chamber is still in the process of gathering information as to the scope and the full impact of this error. The chamber aims to announce the start date of the prosecutions evidence as soon as possible."

Needless to say, this is a highly charged trial.  Mladic is obviously not the robust general he was 17 years ago, having suffered several strokes in the interim.  He is 70 years old. 


Timeline:  Siege of Srbenica

Bosnian Court Convicts First Woman of War Crimes

Rasema Handanovic is the first Bosnian woman to be convicted of war crimes for killing Croat prisoners.  Handanovic, who was a Bosnian Muslim soldier during the 1990s war,  pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargaining deal. 

War crimes court judge Jasmina Kosovic said, "Rasema Handanovic participated with other members of her unit in the executions of three civilians and three soldiers.  The tribunal sentences her to five-and-a-half years in jail."

Although Croats and Bosnian Muslims where allies, fighting Serbs, for most of the Bosnian war, they were adversaries for almost a year in 1993 and 1994.  Handanovic was a member of the Zufilkar Special Unit at the time, which killed 18 civilians and four prisoners in the village of Trusina in Southern Bosnia.

Rasema Handanovic plea bargained for a lesser sentence by agreeing to testify against members of her former unit.  The plea bargain agreement resulted in her getting a lesser sentence.  She was extradited from the United States, where she had immigrated after the war, to Bosnia in December. The 39 year old holds dual citizenship of the U.S. and Bosnia. 

During the Bosnian war 100,000 lives were lost, one of the most famous massacres and human rights abuses occurred in Srbenica.  Slobodan Milosovic, Radovan Karadicz and Ratko Mladic are some of the most publicized personalities to be prosecuted for war crimes in Bosnia.