Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    June 15, 2011

Mladic Trial to Resume Early July

   André de Nesnera | Washington
   Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic appears in court at
   the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the
   Hague, June 3, 2011
   Photo: Reuters
   Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic appears in court at
   the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the
   Hague, June 3, 2011

   Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic is the latest to
   appear before the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
   General Ratko Mladic faces 11 counts of genocide, crimes against
   humanity and war crimes stemming from the 1992-to-1995 Bosnia civil
   war. He, along with Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic,
   also on trial, is accused of ordering what is considered to be the
   worst atrocity in Europe since World War II - the massacre in the
   U.N.-protected Srebrenica enclave.
   Marko Hoare, a Balkans expert at London's Kingston University, says the
   Bosnian Serb army occupied Srebrenica in July 1995.
   'And what the Serbs did was they separated the Muslim male prisoners
   from the women and the old people - and massacred them systematically
   to try and stop the flow of possible Bosnian Muslim fighters. So they
   carried out an act of genocide to rid themselves of unwanted Muslim
   males. And other Bosnian Muslims were captured trying to escape in
   Srebrenica in refugee columns and were also massacred. So the
   systematic massacre of 8,000 civilians,' said Hoare.
   David Kaye, an international law expert at the University of
   California, Los Angeles (UCLA) says more than anyone else, Ratko Mladic
   has blood on his hands.
   'He was instrumental in the [43-month long] siege of Sarajevo
   [1992-96]. He was instrumental in the siege of Srebrenica and the
   ensuing massacre in July of 1995," he said. "He was responsible for
   military activity around the country. He had been a career military
   officer in the Yugoslav army and then transferred over when the Bosnian
   Serb army was created and became the leader of the Bosnian Serb army.
   So he was a professional soldier. He knew the rules of the laws of war
   and quite clearly broke them and with knowledge. He is really the
   essential person to bring to justice in the context of the war in
   Bosnia.'
   Kaye says of all the charges leveled against Mladic, the most difficult
   one to prove is genocide.
   'It's what we among the lawyers call a 'specific intent crime.' So that
   means that not only do you have to prove that let's say Mladic is
   responsible for a particular crime, but you have to prove that Mladic
   was responsible for it with the intent of destroying, in whole or in
   part, the Bosnian Muslim community or the community in Srebrenica,
   however you want to describe that community. So again, it's not just
   defining that he was responsible for the crime, but that he did it with
   the particular intent of destroying that group.' said Kaye.
   Ratlo Mladic appeared for the first time before judges on June 3. He
   was arrested in Serbia last month after more than 15 years on the run.
   He joins the former Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic,
   who has been on trial since October 2009. Kaye says the charges against
   Mladic are very similar to those leveled against Karadzic.
   'In an ideal situation, you could have tried Mladic and Karadzic
   together - they were really partners in crime in the truest sense of
   the word. The reality is that because the Karadzic trial is so far
   along, that it really would not be fair to either defendant, and really
   either to the judges or to the prosecution, to force them into a trial
   together at this point,' he said.
   But Marko Hoare takes a different view.
   'Certain people have suggested that the trials should be joined. There
   is a certain logic to that in the sense that they were very much
   partners and very much guilty of the same things. So that would perhaps
   be the sensible step to take. The tribunal hasn't taken that decision,
   but if it did, I think it would be a sensible decision,' said Hoare.
   During his first appearance before the court on June 3, Mladic said
   little. He dismissed the charges against him as 'monstrous' and
   'obnoxious' and asked for more time to enter a plea. The judge granted
   him his request and adjourned the proceedings until July 4.