Genocide conviction upheld against 'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladic
Jun 08, 2021
The Hague [Netherlands], June 9 : Former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic, infamously known as the 'butcher of Bosnia,' will have to serve his life sentence after an appeal against his war crimes convictions was rejected on Tuesday.
Mladic, 79, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of genocide for atrocities committed during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995.
Tuesday's decision ends the last major Balkan war crimes trial before a United Nations court.
Mladic was charged with two counts of genocide and nine crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Around 100,000 people were killed and another 2.2 million displaced in the former Yugoslavia.
He was found not guilty on one charge of genocide but received a guilty verdict on each of the other 10 counts.
The trial, which opened in 2012, took place at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands. The ad hoc court was established to prosecute crimes committed during the Balkans conflict.
The trial of Mladic, who was arrested in 2011, has lasted 530 days and included more than 500 witnesses and nearly 10,000 exhibits.
