Butcher of Bosnia Ratko Mladic faces justice at last

Published on Thursday 26 May 2011 18:50

HE WAS the Bosnian Serb general who called himself "God" and who is charged with masterminding the only incidence of genocide to have taken place on European soil since the Holocaust.

Ratko Mladic, leader of the Bosnian Serb army during the 1992-5 conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia, was arrested yesterday in a small village in northern Serbia after 16 years on the run. He had been living with relatives under the assumed name of Milorad Komadic, the Serbian equivalent of "John Smith".

Government minister Rasim Ljajic said "Mladic looked like an old man" when he was arrested.

"One could pass by him without recognising him," the minister said. "He was pale, which could mean he rarely ventured out of the house - a probable reason why he went unnoticed."

Mr Ljajic said Mladic had two handguns in his possession but did not resist arrest and "was co-operative". Serbian state TV said Mladic was now bald and appeared "worn out".

His arrest was announced by Serbian president Boris Tadic hours before the arrival in Belgrade of European Union foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton to discuss his country's application for membership of the EU. "Today we closed one chapter in our recent history that will bring us one step closer to full reconciliation in the region," Mr Tadic said.

The arrest was "the result of the full co-operation of Serbia with The Hague tribunal", he said. He added that Serbia had begun the process of extraditing Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.

Lady Ashton said: "This is an important step forward for Serbia and for international justice.

"Full co-operation with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] remains essential on Serbia's path towards EU membership."

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The EU has made clear that handing over Mladic to face justice was a condition of Serbia progressing to the status of formal candidate for accession, and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso suggested the latest developments would smooth the way for eventual membership.

"This is great news," he said. "I was exactly one week ago in Belgrade. I had an extensive, very deep, sincere conversation with President Tadic and he promised me that he would do everything to arrest Mladic.

"So, if this is the case, it means that he is keeping his word, so we should trust Serbia's determination also to come closer to the European Union."

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the arrest, saying that it should serve as a lesson to the likes of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi.

"This is excellent news because we have to remember this man stands accused of some absolutely horrific crimes," he said.

"People should recognise that it's right that international law has a very long reach and a very long memory, and this should send a signal to all war criminals everywhere. In the end, we will get you."

Mr Cameron added: "(Mladic] is accused of the most appalling war crimes, both in terms of what happened in Srebrenica but also in Sarajevo. There is a very good reason why the long arm of international law had been looking for him for so long."

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "The arrest of Ratko Mladic is a historic moment for a region that was torn apart by the appalling wars of the 1990s.

"Ratko Mladic stands accused of terrible crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and it is right that he will now be brought to face international justice."

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the ICTY, said: "These victims have endured unimaginable horrors - including the genocide in Srebrenica - and redress for their suffering is long overdue."

Appointed commander-in-chief of the Bosnian Serb army in 1992 by then Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, Mladic oversaw both the four-year siege of Sarajevo, in which an estimated 11,000 people died, and the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, in which an estimated 8,100 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by his forces.

He was indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1996, along with Radovan Karadzic. For two years after his indictment, he moved freely inside Bosnia under the ineffectual noses of Nato peacekeepers who did nothing to arrest him: in 1997, he vanished into Serbia.

His arrest sparked surprise and consternation in a region where many had long ago given up on the prospect of Mladic ever being caught alive, and Mr Tadic will endure both embarrassment and criticism in coming days from hardliners and moderates in the country.

"It's a very courageous decision of the Serbian president," said French president Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at the G8 summit in Deauville. "It is a step toward integration of Serbia into the European Union someday soon."

Mladic, 69, faces life imprisonment if convicted of genocide and other charges. The UN court has no death penalty.

Colonel Bob Stewart, who commanded UN troops in Bosnia in 1992-93 and is now a Conservative MP, said: "It is very, very important that this man Mladic is brought to The Hague quickly, the trial starts quickly, the trial is expeditious in dealing with the matter and, actually, at the end of it, justice prevails.

"I saw the result of what this man did. I saw murdered men, women and children. I saw what was happening in Srebrenica."

Lord Ashdown, the international community's former high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and ex-Liberal Democrat leader, said: "This is a great moment for the Balkans and for international justice. Mladic was one of the two primary architects of the Balkan horrors, including the worst acts of genocide on the European mainland for the last 50 years."Groundbreaking forensic work using DNA-assisted technology to identify the remains of the Srebrenica victims has been undertaken by the Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

It has identified 6,590 victims of Srebrenica, providing incontrovertible proof and evidence of the massacre.

Adam Boys, from Ardfern in Argyll, who has lived in Bosnia for 16 years and is one of the ICMP leaders, said: "For Bosnia, including those identifications made by traditional means, over 70 per cent of all missing persons have been recovered and identified. This is unprecedented anywhere in the world."