Former Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic’s defence asked the UN court to annul the verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment for genocide and other crimes because his mental faculties are impaired.
A prosecution witness told the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic that the Belgrade authorities supported Bosnian Serb leaders their attempt to create a homogenous Serb state in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At its closing event, UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres said the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had shown the international community’s commitment to holding war criminals accountable.
The UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia shuts on Thursday after convicting 90 war criminals, but its successes have been accompanied by courtroom controversies and a disputed legacy in Balkan countries.
Convicted war criminals from Bosnia and Herzegovina say that they still believe that the Hague Tribunal, which closes down on Thursday, was a politically biased court that could never deliver impartial justice.
The prosecution asked the UN court in The Hague to quash the acquittal of Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj and convict him of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.
Despite some shortcomings, the Hague Tribunal, which closes this month, has identified and prosecuted those responsible for grave crimes and brought some justice to people who suffered, said members of Bosnia’s Association of Victims.
As Dutch prosecutors confirmed that Bosnian Croat military chief Slobodan Praljak took poison before he died, the Hague Tribunal launched an independent review to establish what went wrong at the UN court.
An ex-member of the ‘Scorpions’ paramilitaries told the Hague Tribunal that his unit and the ‘Tigers’ led by Zeljko Raznatovic, alias Arkan, were under the control of the Serbian security service in the Bosnian and Croatian wars.
One of Britain’s most respected reporters on the Balkan wars of the 1990s has recalled his two encounters, in court and out, with Slobodan Praljak, the war criminal who committed suicide at the Hague Tribunal.