Ratko Mladic

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Ratko Mladić, 1993

Ratko Mladić [ râtko mlǎːdit͡ɕ ] ( Serbian - Cyrillic Ратко Младић ; born March 12, 1942 or 1943 in Božanovići ) is a former Bosnian - Serb general and convicted war criminal who served as Commander in Chief of the Vojska Republike from 1992 to 1996 .

He is charged with numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War , including the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, in which more than 8,000 Bosnian men and young people were murdered. Mladić had been charged with the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 1995, accusing him of the planned genocide of Bosniaks jointly with Radovan Karadžić . After evading arrest for fifteen years, he was turned into on May 26, 2011Serbia arrested and heard for the first time in a chamber of the ICTY in The Hague on 3 June 2011. On November 22, 2017, he was convicted of genocide and another ten of eleven counts, and sentenced to life imprisonment. On June 8, 2021, the appellate court at the successor court of the ICTY confirmed this judgment.

Life

Ratko Mladić was born in the east Bosnian village of Božanovići in the municipality of Kalinovik , near the Treskavica mountain 45 kilometers west of Goražde and 40 kilometers south of Sarajevo . At that time all of Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which was protected by the National Socialists and ruled by the Ustaše ; a state that emerged after the German Balkan campaign and the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in 1941. His father Neđa (1909–1945) died in World War II as a member of the partisans . After the death of her husband, his mother Stana (1919-2003) had to raise her three children, daughter Milica (* 1940) and sons Ratko and Milivoje (1944-2001), alone.

At the age of 15, Ratko Mladić completed his first military training in Zemun ( Belgrade ). After completing his training at the Military Academy in Belgrade on September 27, 1965, he began his career in the Yugoslav Army (JNA). After promotions to lieutenant colonel on December 25, 1980 and to colonel on August 18, 1986 in Štip , he became head of the education department of the Third Military District of Skopje on January 31, 1989. On January 14, 1991 he was appointed Deputy Commander in Pristina .

Yugoslav Wars

Ratko Mladić at Sarajevo Airport , 1993

In June 1991 Mladić was recalled during the fighting between the JNA and the Croatian units from Kosovo to Knin , the capital of the internationally unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia , where he received the post of commander of the JNA's 9th Corps. Under Mladić's command, battles for the city of Šibenik were fought with Croatian units, in which the Maslenica Bridge was blown up . Due to their strategic location, the southern part of Dalmatia was temporarily cut off from Croatian territory , which was the declared goal of the Krajina Serbs . He became major general on October 4, 1991 , and was promoted to lieutenant general on April 24, 1992 . On May 2, 1992, one month after Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence , Mladić and his generals blocked all approaches to Sarajevo and cut off the water and electricity supplies, which began the four-year siege of Sarajevo . On May 9, 1992, Mladić became Chief of Staff - Deputy Commander of the JNA's Second Military District Headquarters there and took over its command the next day.

On 12 May 1992, the Bosnian voted Serbs for the establishment of military units of the Army of Republika Srpska ( Serb . Army of Republika Srpska , VRS), which was formed by Bosnian Serbs and the Yugoslav People's Army, who came from Bosnia. At the same time, Mladić was appointed commander in chief of the VRS, a position he held until December 1996. After the withdrawal of the JNA armed forces from Bosnia in May 1992, the Second Military District of the JNA became the core of the main staff of the VRS. June 24, 1994 Mladic was in the rank of Colonel General transported.

On September 4, 1994, Mladić founded the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republika Srpska as a command unit of the Serbs against the 5th Corps of the Bosnian government troops . He was personally involved in the attacks against the government troops-controlled Bosanska Krajina . On 10 September 1994 Mladic was near Bosanski Petrovac by an artillery -Beschuss the ARBiH seriously injured on the head; he was operated on in a Serbian military clinic. On September 12, the Serbs stopped the attacks after suffering heavy losses, so that the Bosnian army led by Atif Dudaković successfully defended the Krajina .

After storming the UN protection zones around the eastern Bosnian cities of Srebrenica and Žepa in the summer of 1995, Mladić was at the height of his power. In the Srebrenica massacre he organized in July 1995, up to 8,000 male Bosniaks were murdered by Bosnian Serb soldiers.

On November 9, 1996, Biljana Plavšić, as President of the Republika Srpska , dismissed the army chief Ratko Mladić, who had been charged before the Hague Tribunal . Mladić's successor as chief of staff was Major General Pero Čolić . On November 13, 1996, the President decided to close the Mladić-related army station "Radio Krajina". On November 15, 1996, Mladić agreed to accept his dismissal, provided that he could determine his successor himself; He does not recognize Čolić. There was a power struggle in the Republika Srpska.

Charges before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

On 24 July 1995 Mladic was before the UN war crimes tribunal as (ICTY) war criminals for genocide , crimes against humanity, and numerous war crimes accused. On November 16, 1995, charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes were extended to the July 1995 attack on the UN protected area of Srebrenica ( Srebrenica Massacre ) in which up to 8,000 people were killed. Mladić is also said to be responsible for the hostage-taking of UN soldiers ( UNPROFOR ).

As a wanted criminal on the run from the ICTY, Mladić was suspected of hiding in Serbia , the Republic of Srpska or Russia. Until the spring of 2002, Mladić is said to have lived undisturbed with his son in Belgrade. According to the then chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes, Carla Del Ponte , Mladić was within reach of the Serbian authorities, which Belgrade admitted for the period up to June 2002, but not for the time thereafter. The chairman of the 'National Council for Cooperation with the Tribunal', Rasim Ljajić, says: “We now know that 130 people helped Mladić at various stages in hiding. Unfortunately, the majority of them are in the Bosnian Serb Republic. ”Since January 2006, five members of the military have been arrested as alleged helpers.

According to a media report, Mladić was seen watching a football match between the People's Republic of China and Yugoslavia in March 2000 in Belgrade . He is said to have entered the stadium through the VIP entrance and sat in a private box surrounded by eight armed bodyguards . Some sources said that Mladić was staying in Niš in southern Serbia and was being covered by the Serbian army. Deputy Prime Minister Mirolyub Labus said he was seen in the suburbs of Moscow and is usually in Thessaloniki and Athens . In November 2004, British defense officials admitted that military action was unlikely to lead to the successful capture of Mladić and other suspects. Political pressure on the Balkan governments is likely to be more successful. After several unsuccessful appeals by the Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stanković , who is a personal friend and family doctor of the Mladićs, to surrender, he announced his resignation if Mladić was not caught soon. The US government offered a $ 5 million bounty on his capture .

On the occasion of the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in 2010, a letter from US President Obama was read out in which he called for the arrest of Mladić as soon as possible.

Manhunt, arrest and protests

Numerous press releases reported on February 21, 2006 that Mladić had been arrested in Belgrade and that EUFOR units in the northeastern Bosnian city of Tuzla had been handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague , or that this was at least being negotiated. This was denied on all sides, but the chief prosecutor in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte , continued to suspect that the Serbian authorities knew his whereabouts and called for his imminent arrest. The arrests of Mladić and Radovan Karadžić were considered basic prerequisites for an association agreement between the European Union and Serbia .

From April 7, 2006, Mladić could no longer freely dispose of his assets. The parliament of Serbia-Montenegro had passed a law to freeze the bank accounts and other belongings of all fugitive accused war criminals. The war crimes tribunal in The Hague had the promise of the Serbian Prime Minister Koštunica that Mladić would be extradited by the end of April, but this did not happen.

In December 2007 it was officially acknowledged for the first time (by the Serbian Special Prosecutor for War Crimes, Vladimir Vukčević) that Mladić was in all likelihood in Serbia. At the end of the month he confirmed that Mladic was in Serbia. The Serbian government denied these statements; the authorities are not on Mladic's trail.

Representatives of the Serbian Security News Agency (BIA) and the Military Security Agency (VBA) announced at a press conference on October 12, 2009 that they would use all available resources to hunt down the two fugitive Hague defendants, Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić .

In May 2010, Mladić's family applied for a judicial declaration of death . The application was justified with the poor health of the person sought and that he had not been seen for years. If the application had been granted, Mladić's wife would have been entitled to a state pension and could have sold his property.

The responsible Belgrade prosecutor Vukčević said in October 2010 that there was “a leak in the Serbian investigative authorities”: Planned arrests had been revealed to the fugitive in good time, but the leak could not be identified.

In the same month, the Serbian government increased its reward for the capture of Mladić tenfold to 10 million euros. The reason she cited was “Serbia's clear political will” to “ remove the last remaining hurdle on the way to the EU ”.

On May 26, 2011, Mladić was arrested in Lazarevo , Serbia. When announcing the arrest, President Tadić said he hoped it would accelerate EU accession negotiations. A Belgrade court approved Mladić's transfer to The Hague within a week on May 27.

Thousands took to the streets in Belgrade to demonstrate against the arrest and extradition of Mladić. They called him a Serbian hero. The demonstrations ended in violent clashes.

On May 31, 2011, Mladić was allowed to visit the grave of his daughter Ana, who died in 1994, in Belgrade under strict security precautions. She is said to have shot herself with his gun at the age of 23 due to depression exacerbated by Mladić's actions during the civil war. Mladić denied this version, suspecting that she was murdered.

On the same day, Mladić was transferred to the Hague Tribunal after the Serbian judiciary rejected an appeal by the defense against his transfer.

process

Mladic in court, June 3, 2011

On June 3, 2011, Mladić stood before the UN tribunal for the first time. It had brought charges against him on eleven counts, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995. The trial was set for July 4, 2011. Mladić only disclosed his personal details, although his year of birth was also known, which had long been speculated about. He said he was seriously ill and had not read the 37-page indictment. According to his lawyer Miloš Šaljić, he is said to have suffered three strokes and two heart attacks during the 16 years on the run , and was treated for lymphatic cancer in 2009 .

Serbia announced that it would not provide any funding for the defense of Mladić. The Republika Srpska in Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the other hand, provided 50,000 euros. As a public defender was Aleksandar Aleksic presented.

On July 4, 2011, the second day of the trial, Mladić was expelled from the room by the presiding judge Alphons Orie because he had interrupted the hearing several times by heckling. On his behalf, the judge pleaded innocent at the end of the hearing, as is customary when the defendant cannot or does not want to speak. Mladić had previously been prevented from electing his longtime lawyer Miloš Šaljić as defense attorney. Actually he had wanted to boycott the hearing for this reason, but then turned up.

The trial before the UN war crimes tribunal was resumed on May 16, 2012 after six months earlier the medical service of the UN remand prison had declared that Mladić was in ill health to attend the trial. On May 17, 2012, the trial was adjourned indefinitely because of “irregularities”. The presiding judge Orie justified the move by saying that the prosecution had withheld documents from the defense and thus hindered their preparation for the trial.

On July 9, 2012, the prosecution witnesses began to be cross-examined by Mladić's defense lawyer, Branko Lukić. While Mladić appeared to be in good health in the first three days, the trial had to be interrupted on July 12th - the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre - due to a sudden faint attack. On July 13, the examining doctors stated that there was nothing to medically prevent the process from continuing the following week. The process continued accordingly.

On May 19, 2014, the defense began calling their witnesses.

Due to his poor health, Mladic's family requested his temporary release. Son Darko justified the demand with: "In the UN remand prison, his father is not treated as it should be." Doctors in The Hague confirmed heart problems as a result of three strokes before his arrest in 2011. A spokesman for the court said that Ratko Mladićs said himself Condition in detention "rather improved than worsened". In the spring of 2017 there was an application to transfer Mladić to Russia for medical treatment. For this there was a guaranteed "return guarantee" from Moscow.

On November 22, 2017, Mladić was found guilty on the main part of the indictment and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judges saw it as proven that Mladić in his position was crucial to the conduct of a “joint criminal enterprise” aimed at removing all non-Serbs from the Republika Srpska . According to Judge Alphons Orie, the crimes are "among the most heinous that mankind has ever seen".

Mladić had appealed the judgment to the International Residual Mechanism for the ad hoc criminal courts, but success was considered to be almost impossible from the outset. The trial began on August 25, 2020, and Mladić's conviction was confirmed on June 8, 2021.

See also

Web links

Commons : Ratko Mladić  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes and Sources

  1. ^ Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ed.): The prosecutor of the tribunal against Ratko Mladic . IT-95-5 / 18-I, October 2002, p. 1 ( PDF [accessed December 2, 2012]).
  2. ↑ In 2011 Mladic stated that he was born in 1943 .
  3. ↑ a b Spiegel Online : Serbian President confirms arrest of Mladic , May 26, 2011.
  4. ↑ Ratko Mladic before the UN tribunal: “Didn't kill any Muslims”. FAZ.net, June 3, 2011, archived from the original on June 3, 2011 ; Retrieved August 11, 2014 .
  5. ↑ ICTY: Tribunal convicts Ratko Mladic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Retrieved November 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b Life imprisonment for Mladic for genocide. In: Austria Press Agency. June 8, 2021, accessed June 8, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Uglješa Mrdić: Short biography Ratko Mladić, June 2, 2011 (Serbo-Croatian) Retrieved November 23, 2017
  8. ↑ Tim Farin, Niels Kruse: Arrest of Ratko Mladic. General, war criminal, mass murderer . In: Stern , May 26, 2011, accessed November 22, 2017.
  9. ^ Ian Traynor: Ratko Mladic: career officer infamous for the Srebrenica massacre . In: The Guardian , May 6, 2011, accessed November 22, 2017.
  10. ^ International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia . U.N. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  11. ↑ www.novireporter.com ( Bosn .)
  12. ↑ Nataša Krsman: U BiH stradalo 97.207 ljudi ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ www.politika.co.yu  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.politika.co.yu
  14. ↑ Michael Martens, Belgrade: Mladic case: Lauter last deadlines . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed July 12, 2020]).
  15. ↑ Srebrenica Genocide Blog: $ 5,000,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR CAPTURE OF RATKO MLADIC. Accessed July 12, 2020 .
  16. ↑ AFP: International community calls for the arrest of Mladic ( Memento of July 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ Belgrade admits: Mladic in Serbia , Die Presse, December 6, 2007 ( Memento of June 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Confusion about Mladic's hiding place , www.tagesschau.sf.tv, December 26, 2007
  19. ↑ Intensive hunt for Mladic und Hadzic , Radio Srbija, October 12, 2009  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / glassrbije.org
  20. ↑ Family wants Ratko Mladic declared 'legally dead'. BBC, May 25, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2011
  21. ↑ General on the run . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 2010, p. 95 ( online ).
  22. ↑ Serbia tenfold reward for the capture of Mladic , NZZ Online, October 28, 2010
  23. ^ Ratko Mladic in Serbia compiled in: sueddeutsche.de of May 26, 2011. Retrieved on May 26, 2011.
  24. ^ Zeit Online : Suspected war criminal Mladić arrested , May 26, 2011.
  25. ^ Zeit Online: Mladić may be extradited to the UN tribunal , May 27, 2011.
  26. ^ Arrests after protests by Mladic supporters in Serbia
  27. ↑ Mladic visits his daughter's grave , www.focus.de, May 31, 2011.
  28. ^ Ratko Mladic on the way to the tribunal. news.ch, May 31, 2011, accessed on May 31, 2011 .
  29. ↑ tagesschau.de: Mladić for the first time before the UN tribunal: "I am a seriously ill man" ( Memento from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) , June 3, 2011, accessed on June 3, 2011.
  30. ↑ faz.de: Ratko Mladić before the UN tribunal: “Didn't kill any Muslims” , June 3, 2011, accessed on June 3, 2011.
  31. ↑ Trial continued at the beginning of July. ORF, June 3, 2011, accessed on June 3, 2011 .
  32. ↑ welt.de: Scandal in The Hague - Richter refers Mladic des Saals , July 4, 2011, accessed on July 4, 2011.
  33. ↑ schwarzwaelder-bote.de: The true Ratko Mladic , July 5, 2011, accessed on July 5, 2011.
  34. ↑ focus.de: Ratko Mladic freaks out in The Hague , July 4, 2011, accessed on July 5, 2011.
  35. ↑ google.de: Judge throws stubborn Mladic out of the courtroom , July 4, 2011, accessed on July 5, 2011.
  36. ↑ Mladic trial begins before the UN war crimes tribunal at welt.de, May 16, 2012 (accessed on May 16, 2012).
  37. ↑ Mladic too ill to be heard in court, according to tribunal doctors. In: ORF . November 10, 2011, accessed November 10, 2011 .
  38. ↑ Justice: Evidence in the trial against Mladic postponed indefinitely at welt.de, May 17, 2012 (accessed on May 17, 2012).
  39. ↑ Mladic admitted to hospital - process interrupted at focus.de, July 12, 2012 (accessed on July 13, 2012).
  40. ↑ BBC.com: BBC News - Ratko Mladic war crime defense begins , May 19, 2014, accessed July 17, 2014.
  41. ↑ sz-online: Ratko Mladic wants to go home . In: SZ-Online . ( sz-online.de [accessed on September 11, 2017]).
  42. ↑ ICTY.org: Tribunal convicts Ratko Mladić for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  43. ↑ reuters.com: Mladic sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide . Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  44. ↑ Genocide in Srebrenica: Ratko Mladić wants to obtain acquittal before the UN tribunal. In: The time . August 25, 2020, accessed April 16, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Mladic, Ratko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Младић, Ратко (Serbian Cyrillic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bosnian military, commander in chief of the Bosnian Serb forces
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1942 or March 12, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Božanovići , Bosnia and Herzegovina