By Alexandra Halsey-Storch
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
On Thursday presiding Judge Alphons Orie suspended war criminal Ratko Mladic’s trial “indefinitely” after prosecutors failed to disclose thousands of documents to the former Bosnian Serb military chief’s defense team.
The ruling could delay the trial for months.
According to NPR, Judge Orie said the three-judge panel will analyze the “scope and full impact” of the error and aim to establish a new starting date “as soon as possible.” The particular evidence at issue, namely witnesses that the prosecution intended to call to testify, was to be presented later this month.
The long-awaited genocide trial began at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslav on Wednesday, May 16th. It’s commencement marked an international victory for human rights, demonstrating that perpetrators will be held accountable for their wrongful acts and will be brought to justice.
Last May, Mladic was charged with 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that were committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
His indictment states, in part, that, “On 8 March 1995, Radovan KARADZIC, as the Supreme Commander of the VRS, issued Operational Directive 07, which directed the VRS to eliminate the Muslim enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa, in furtherance of the “strategic objectives” of 12 May 1992. On 2 July 1995, Bosnian Serb Forces under the command and control of General Ratko MLADIC attacked the Srebrenica enclave. This attack on the enclave continued until 11 July 1995, when General Ratko MLADIC and the Bosnian Serb Forces entered Srebrenica. Subsequently, those Bosnian Serb Forces terrorized Bosnian Muslims, who were forcibly transferred to areas outside the enclave and many of whom fled in a huge column through the woods towards Tuzla. The majority of this group consisted of unarmed military personnel and civilians.”
The indictment further states that, between 12 July and about 20 July 1995, thousands of Bosnian Muslim men were captured by, or surrendered to, Bosnian Serb Forces under the command and control of General Ratko MLADIC. Over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners captured in the area around Srebrenica were summarily executed from 13 July to 19 July 1995. Killings continued thereafter. From about 1 August 1995 through about 1 November 1995, VRS units under the command and control of General Ratko MLADIC participated in an organized and comprehensive effort to conceal the killings and executions of the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica by reburying, in isolated locations, bodies exhumed from mass graves.
As stated by The Huffington Post, Prosecutor Dermot Groome told the three-judge panel on Wednesday that Mladic was chosen to lead the Bosnian Serb forces by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic not only because of his skills as a military commander but also “because Karadzic believed he was willing to commit the crimes needed to achieve the strategic goals of the Bosnian Serb leadership.”
Also during Wednesday’s opening statements, Prosecutor Groome indicated that Mladic’s wartime diaries, radio intercepts and appearances he made on television during the war, would be used against him as evidence of his crimes.
Prosecutors finished their opening statements on Thursday morning where they iterated, “in painstaking and chilling detail the systematic murder of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia in 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces commanded by Mladic.
“In a period of only five days, from July 12-16, 1995, the armed forces of [Bosnian Serb leader] Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic expelled the civilian population of Srebrenica and murdered over 7,000 Srebrenica men and boys,” prosecutor Peter McCloskey said.
Mladic continues to maintain any wrong-doing, instead iterating, “I have only defended my people.”
Should he be found guilty, Mladic faces life in prison.
For more information, please visit:
NPR—Judge Suspends War Crimes Trial of Ratko Mladic—17 May 2012
BBC New–Ratko Mladic’s War Crimes Trial Postponed Over Evidence–17 May 2012
The Huffington Post—Ratko Mladic Ware Crimes Trial Starts—16 May 2012
AJC—War Crimes Charges Against Mladic—16 May 2012
NPR—Grim Reading: The Mladic Indictment: The Two-Way—26 May 2011
TIME—Ratko Mladic’s Indictment Contains Horrifying Details of Massacre—26 May 2011