Leader: Murderer Mladic must feel the full force of justice

THE arrest of General Ratko Mladic, one of the most nauseating war criminals Europe has seen, is a cause for rejoicing.

Under his murderous command, at least 7,500 civilian Muslim men and boys were executed at Srebrenica in 1995 as Serbia's grim war of ethnic killing raged in the collapsed remnants of Yugoslavia.

Thousands more civilians died as his forces besieged the multi-ethnic city of Sarajevo for three years, bombarding it brutally and sniping callously at pedestrians doing no more than trying to find food. Gen Mladic is in large part responsible for the 104,000 pople killed in three years of the Bosnian conflict.

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That he remained at large for some 16 years, protected by, it is presumed, elements of the Serbian political, intelligence, and military apparatus, has been a constant reproof to Serbian aspirations to be accepted as a modern nation worthy of the name.

That he has now been arrested by Serbian forces is at least a recognition by current political leaders that there must be a full reckoning for past crimes before Serbia can move forward.

Serbian president Boris Tadic yesterday said that the detention brought his country and the still-troubled region closer to reconciliation, a hope which all of Europe would echo. It also paved the way to European Union membership for Serbia.

President Tadic may be right in this, but first a trial at the international court at The Hague must be held.

It will take time to prepare and will be lengthy. But given the number of his victims, in this, as perhaps in few other cases, justice must be seen to be done.

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