Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Mladic refuses to enter plea at ICTY

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Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Mladic refuses to enter plea at ICTY

2011-06-04 05:49:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic on Friday made his initial appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and refused to enter plea on the charges against him.

The war-time leader of the Bosnian Serb forces, who evaded capture for 16 years, said the charges leveled against him were "monstrous and obnoxious" and thus refused to enter a plea after claiming he needed more time to consider them.

In the 37-page indictment against Mladic, it is alleged that the actions of Bosnian Serb general had as objective the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnia Herzegovina during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Those actions included genocide, extermination and murder of innocent civilians.

"I do not fear any journalist, or any people, any nation or any ethnicity. I defended my people and my country, not Ratko Mladic," added the former Bosnian Serb leader. "Now I am defending myself and defending Ratko Mladic before you."

During his appearance before the ICTY, Judge Alphons Orie asked if he wanted to hear the indictment against him. Mladic responded: "I do not want to have a single letter or sentence of that indictment read out to me."

"I was treated with fairness and dignity, except for the procedure and I have to say that bothers me, it really irritates me. And when I see the balaclavas worn by those people, I don't like that, and I'd rather be killed by a policeman. Either here or in the United States or anywhere."

The defendant was arrested on May 26 during a secret operation in the village of Lazarevo, Serbia. He was transferred to the seat of the tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Judge Orie ordered him to remain in custody at the United Nations detention unit until his next appearance on July 4.

Mladic was one of the most wanted war crimes fugitives in the world and the initial indictment against him and Radovan Karadžić was confirmed in July 1995. They were charged with genocide and other crimes committed against civilians throughout the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A second indictment was confirmed in November 1995 and dealt with events that took place in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The indictment states that Mladic was a member of a group, the objective of which was the elimination or permanent removal of Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat, or other non-Serb inhabitants from large areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Numerous individuals participated in this and each participant, by acts or omissions, significantly contributed to the overall objective of the group.

The indictment also states that in 1990, following multi-party elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the policy of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) included an emphasis on unifying Serbs into a common state, and that by early 1991 the party had begun to organize certain areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina into Serb regional areas. On June 25, 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Working in conjunction with certain elements of the Yugoslav People's Army, the SDS armed the Bosnian Serb population of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A separate Bosnian Serb Assembly, dominated by the SDS, was founded on October 24, 1991 as the highest representative and legislative organ of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On November, 21, 1991, the Bosnian Serb assembly adopted a decision to endorse the Serb autonomous districts proclaimed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on January 9, 1992, the Assembly announced the creation of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, later called Republika Srpska.

The indictment further alleges that shortly after Bosnia and Herzegovina was internationally recognized as an independent state on April 6, 1992, hostilities broke out in Sarajevo, marking the beginning of a conflict within the city, which would last until 1995. From May 1992, Bosnian Serb forces under the command and control of Mladic used shelling and sniping to target civilian areas of the city and its civilian population, killing and wounding civilians and inflicting terror upon the population.

On May 12, 1992, Radovan Karadžić announced the six "strategic objectives" of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These were to establish State borders separating the Serbian people from the other two ethnic communities, set up a corridor between Semberija and Krajina, establish a corridor in the Drina River valley, ensure access to the sea for Republika Srpska, and divide the city of Sarajevo into Serbian and Muslim parts and establish effective state authorities in both parts.

On May 12, 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly voted to create the army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina/Republika Srpska (VRS), effectively transforming the Yugoslav People's Army units in Bosnia and Herzegovina into units of the VRS. At the same time, the Bosnian Serb Assembly appointed Mladic as Commander of the VRS Main Staff.

It is further alleged that from May 1992, Bosnian Serb forces under the command and control of Mladic took control of several areas in the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily in the north-western region known as the Bosnian Krajina and in the eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In these municipalities, Bosnian Serb forces participated in a campaign of persecutions to drive the non-Serb populations from these territories. Thousands of non-Serbs were deported or forcibly transferred from these municipalities. Many non-Serbs were killed, and many others were held in detention facilities, where they were physically and psychologically abused and subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions. In addition, non-Serb homes, businesses, and religious sites and property were looted, destroyed and appropriated.

According to the indictment, from January to March 1993, Bosnian Serb forces under the command and control of Mladic attacked the Cerska area in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thousands of Muslims fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina government-controlled territory, including Srebrenica and Zepa. Thereafter, the Bosnian Serb forces began to focus particular attention on capturing the strategically located Srebrenica enclave and expelling the Bosnian Muslim population that had fled there in the wake of the 1992 and 1993 'ethnic cleansing' campaigns in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is further alleged that, between July 12 and about July 20, 1995, thousands of Bosnian Muslim men were captured by, or surrendered to, Bosnian Serb forces under the command and control of Mladic. Over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners captured in the area around Srebrenica were summarily executed from July 13 to July 19, 1995. From about August 1, 1995 through about November 1, 1995, VRS units under the command and control of 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. The indictment states that as Commander of the Main Staff, Mladic was the most senior member of the VRS, subordinate only to the president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić. He controlled the work of the Main Staff; made decisions for the Main Staff and subordinate units; assigned tasks to subordinates; issued orders, instructions and directives; and was responsible for the overall state and conduct of the VRS. He was personally responsible for ensuring that Bosnian Serb forces under his command and control respected and applied the rules of international law governing the conduct of warfare. It is further alleged that Mladic knew that all the crimes outlined in the indictment were about to be committed or had been committed by his subordinates, and that he failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or punish the perpetrators.

Ratko Mladic is charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility and superior criminal responsibility with genocide, complicity in genocide, persecutions, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians and taking hostages.

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