By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe
SERBIA – Bringing a gruesome chapter in history to a close, former Serbian army commander Ratko Mladic, 69, was arrested on Thursday.
Mladic’s arrest followed sixteen years of hiding and a three-year investigation. He has been charged with genocide, extermination and murder by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The genocide charge stems from his alleged role in directing the murder of eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July of 1995 after the fall of Srebrenica, Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.
Mladic also stands accused of ethnic cleansing, forcible deportations, torture, forced labor, mass killings, and widespread psychological, physical and sexual violence against Bosnian Muslims between 1992 and 1995.
In a written statement, prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Serge Brammertz wrote, “Mladic’s arrest clearly signals that the commitment to international criminal justice is entrenched. Today’s events show that people responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law can no longer count on impunity.”
After the 1995 indictment, Mladic disappeared. Though he was occasionally seen at football games and at his home in Belgrade, he vanished after the fall of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Milosevic died in 2006 while his trial in The Hague was still going on.
Though some have called for the quick transfer of Mladic to the Netherlands for trial, extradition could take up to a week. The process depends on whether Mladic will appeal or not, which is unlikely as most accused fight extradition. If he does not appeal, he could be in the Netherlands within a day.
Elated reactions resonated throughout Europe and beyond upon news of the arrest. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called Mladic’s arrest “an historic day for international justice.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the arrest “very big news.”
“As Bosnian Serb military commander, General Mladic played a key role in some of the darkest episodes of Balkan and European history, including the siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of thousands of Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
“Almost sixteen years since his indictment for genocide and other war crimes, his arrest finally offers a chance for justice to be done,” Rasmussen added.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Mladic’s trial “should teach again the grim reality of ethnic cleansing and, I hope, bring some comfort to those who survived.”
“Justice works,” Albright said in a statement.
The arrest moves Serbia one step closer to integration into the European Union, which forbade Serbia from membership talks because of the country’s failure to arrest Mladic. Still, the integration process takes years to complete.
For now, however, human rights advocates, world leaders and those who were affected by the massacre can rejoice over the arrest of the man who Interpol called, “Europe’s most wanted war crimes suspect.”
In the news release, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said, “The arrest by Serbian police of Ratko Mladic, an alleged architect of human carnage and mass murder, is a triumph for international justice.”
For more information, please see:
BBC – Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia – 26 May 2011
CNN – Bosnia genocide suspect Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia – 26 May 2011
CNN – Mladic arrest hailed as ‘important day for international justice’ – 26 May 2011
Economist – Ratko Mladic: Caught at last – 26 May 2011
New York Times – Mladic Arrest Opens Door to Serbia’s Long-Sought European Union Membership – 26 May 2011
Telegraph – Ratko Mladic arrest: extradition could take a week – 26 May 2011
