Bosnian War Commander Mladic’s Life Term Upheld by UN Court
- Verdict is last high-profile case of UN war-crimes tribunal
- Appeals by Mladic prosecution on earlier verdicts rejected
Ratko Mladic looks on from the defendant box at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on June 8.
Photographer: Peter Dejong/AFP/Getty ImagesBosnia’s notorious wartime commander, General Ratko Mladic, lost his appeal against the guilty verdict for his role in genocide and other atrocities in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
The 78 year-old former military leader of ethnic Serbs, who fought against Muslims and Croats when the collapse of Yugoslavia triggered the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, will remain in prison for life, the international tribunal in The Hague ruled on Tuesday.
Mladic, who earned the nickname of “the Butcher of Bosnia” from his victims, had appealed the 2017 ruling that found him responsible for the murder of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, for the 44-month siege of capital Sarajevo and other crimes against humanity.