Mladic: Prosecution Proposes Two Indictments
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The prosecutor Serge Brammertz seeks the split of the indictment against Ratko Mladic in two. The first one will be the ˝Srebrenica˝ indictment and the second, ˝Sarajevo, Municipalities, and Hostages˝. The ˝Srebrenica“indictment will also include the crimes in Bisina on the 23 July 1995 where more than 30 Muslim men were killed.
This separation of the indictment which will result in two separate trials, according to the prosecution, will best serve the interest of justice by taking into consideration factors such as the need to ensure justice for the victims, a start to the trial as soon as possible and the need to plan for the contingency that Mladic’s health could deteriorate. This could ultimate result also in the more effective management of two separate trials.
The prosecution estimates that the prosecution case against Mladic in the Srebrenica trial can be presented within a year. The prosecution guarantees that the split is in accordance with the rules, and will create two equally important and focused indictments which will have Mladic tried in a two-step process.
The charges against Ratko Mladic by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia accuse him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war.
Among other charges, the indictment includes the genocide between July 11, 1995 and November 1, 1995 during which forces in Srebrenica killed more than 7000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys both through organised and opportunistic executions as well as causing serious bodily or mental harm to thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and women in Srebrenica.
The indictment includes charges of ordered sexual abuse, forced labour and inhumane conditions in camps in which prisoners of war were kept.
In the second indictment, among others, Mladic faces charges to spread terror among the civilian population of Sarajevo through a campaign of sniping and shelling, and taking United Nations personnel hostage in a bid to prevent NATO from conducting air strikes against Bosnian Serb military targets
Mladic is to hold individual criminal responsibility, not necessarily for committing the crimes but for participating, planning, and orchestrating joint criminal enterprises between May 12, 1992 and November 30, 1995 to permanently remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed as Bosnian Serb territory.
