NETHERLANDS: Mothers of Srebrenica hope for justice in trial of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Maldic

Record ID: 733877

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Mothers of Srebrenica hope for justice in trial of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Maldic
  • Date: 17th May 2012
  • Summary: THE HAGUE ,THE NETHERLANDS (MAY 16, 2012) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF THE COURTHOUSE HOLDING BANNERS BANNER WITH PHOTOS OF SOME OF VICTIMS OF BOSNIAN WAR WOMEN WALKING HOLDING BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian), KADEFA RIZVANOVIC, DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MOTHERS OF SREBRENICA, SAYING: "We hope that justice will finally get him and that he will be held responsible for the massacres he has done in Bosnia." PROTESTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) MUNIRA SUBASIC, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MOTHERS OF SREBRENICA, SAYING: "We expect to see the butcher again, to see if he has admitted his crimes, or is there still blood in him, the same blood he spilled in 1995." VARIOUS OF BANNER READING 'GUILTY' PROTESTERS
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4NWGH4JYX8HJZC9QP89QPVABF
  • Story Text: Relatives of those who died during the Srebrenica massacre said they hoped justice would be done in the trial of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Maldic.
    Mladic goes on trial for genocide on Wednesday (May 16), accused of leading the slaughter of 8,000 unarmed Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
    Mladic, now 70, is the last of the main protagonists in the Balkan wars of the 1990s to go on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
    "We hope that justice will finally get him and that he will be held responsible for the massacres he has done in Bosnia," said Kadefa Rizvanovic, deputy president of the Mothers of Srebrenica group, who lost her husband after the fall of Srebrenica.
    Mladic is accused of orchestrating not only the week-long massacre in Srebrenica, at the time a U.N. "safe haven", but also the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 people were killed by snipers, machine-guns and heavy artillery.
    The list of charges stemming from his actions as the Serb military commander in the Bosnian war of 1992-95 ranges from genocide to murder, acts of terror and other crimes against humanity.
    "We expect to see the butcher again, to see if he has admitted his crimes, or is there still blood in him, the same blood he spilled in 1995," said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica group who lost both her husband and son.
    Mladic, who was arrested a year ago and transferred to U.N. detention after 16 years on the run, has dismissed the charges against him as "monstrous" and "obnoxious", and has complained on several occasions that he is too ill to stand trial.
    Defence lawyers said they did not have enough time to review the huge case file prepared by prosecutors and asked that the trial be postponed, but the requests was denied.
    During previous hearings, Mladic has been angry and defiant, heckling the judge, shouting, and interrupting the proceedings.
    Some fear that Mladic, who has received physical therapy for a possible stroke, could die without ever facing justice as happened in the case of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who died before he could be sentenced.
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