Ratko Mladic

Appointed Commander of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) on 12 May 1992 (a position he held until at least 8 November 1996); promoted to the rank of Colonel General in June 1994. (Source: icty.org)

As the highest-ranking military officer in the Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian war, Ratko Mladic is alleged to have been directly responsible for some of the conflict’s worst atrocities. This includes the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, during which some 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were murdered, as well as the 44-month shelling and sniping campaign on Sarajevo, which killed about 12,000 civilians.

Until his arrest in the Serbian village of Lazarevo on May 26, 2011, Mladic was a fugitive from justice for 16 years. His presence, however, has loomed over numerous trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague, where he has been frequently mentioned in witness testimony and judgements. After losing his extradition appeal before a Serbian court, he was transported to The Netherlands and handed into the custody of the ICTY, on May 31.

The current indictment is almost identical to that of ex Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, Mladic’s wartime superior. Both men are accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, the alleged purpose of which was the removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the Bosnian Serb-claimed territory in Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Mladic made his initial appearance at the tribunal on June 3, 2011, where he called the charges against him “obnoxious” and refused to enter a plea. At a further appearance on July 4, judges ordered Mladic out of the courtroom after he repeatedly interrupted them and refused to listen when presiding Judge Alphons Orie attempted to read out the counts in his indictment.

After Mladic complained of medical problems during an October 6 status conference, the court confirmed he was receiving medical treatment but would not comment on media reports that he was suffering from pneumonia.

On October 14, judges rejected a prosecution request to split the Mladic indictment and hold two separate trials. About a month later, on November 18, the prosecution submitted its suggested cuts to the operative indictment, as requested by judges. The bench accepted the reductions on December 2. The indictment will now deal with a total of 106 crimes instead of 196, and the number of Bosnian municipalities involved has been cut from 23 to 15.

The core elements of the case – the siege of Sarajevo, the massacre at Srebrenica, crimes committed in various municipalities, and the taking of United Nations hostages – remain the same, and the indictment still contains 11 counts.

Amid growing concerns about Mladic's health, judges ordered a full medical report on the accused in November, but during a status conference on December 8, presiding Judge Alphons Orie remarked that “the chamber sees no need to order any further medical exams or to take any other steps in this regard”.

Opening statements in the trial are tentatively scheduled for March 27, 2012.

Last updated December 2011 by Rachel Irwin

The Charges Against Ratko Mladic

The ICTY's Mladic indictment was last amended in June 2011. It was initially issued in 1995 and then amended for the first time in 2002.

Count 1
Genocide

This count of the indictment alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish genocide against a part of the Bosnian Muslim and/or Bosnian Croat people. Members of these two groups, as well as their leadership, “were targeted for destruction”, the indictment states.

Mladic is accused of being part of a joint criminal enterprise with other military, paramilitary and government officials to “remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the territories of [Bosnia and Hercegovina] claimed as Bosnian Serb territory”.

Count 1 further alleges that from March to December 1992, “Bosnian Serb political and governmental organs and Serb forces” carried out killings, torture, physical and psychological abuse and acts of rape and sexual violence during and after the takeover of the Bosnian municipalities of Bratunac, Foca, Kljuc, Kotor Varos, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlastenica and Zvornik.

These acts and others were also committed in various detention centres, where the “inhumane living” conditions were “calculated to bring about [the] physical destruction” of the Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats who were held there, states the indictment.

Count 2
Genocide

This count pertains specifically to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during which some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered.

The indictment states that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish genocide against a part of the Bosnian Muslim people.

He was allegedly part of a second joint criminal enterprise with other high-ranking officials to “eliminate the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by killing the men and boys…and forcibly removing the women, young children, and some elderly men” from the enclave.

By these actions, Mladic “intended to destroy the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica”, the indictment states.

Count 3
Persecutions (Crime Against Humanity)

This count alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish “persecutions on political and/or religious grounds against Bosnian Muslims and/or Bosnian Croats” in the municipalities of Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Novi, Bratunac, Brcko, Foca, Hadzici, Ilidza, Kalinovik, Kljuc, Kotor Varos, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, Pale, Prijedor, Rogatica, Sanski Most, Sokoloc, Trnovo, Vlastenica, Vogosca and Zvornik.

The persecutory acts were allegedly part of the objective to “permanently remove” Bosnian Muslims and/or Bosnian Croats in the municipalities, and the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.

The indictment states that when municipalities were taken over, and afterwards, “Serb forces and Bosnian Serb political and government organs” imposed “restrictive and discriminatory measures, arbitrary searches, arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence, killing, and destruction of houses, cultural monuments and sacred sites”.

Many of these acts continued in the detention centres, along with other persecutory abuses, the indictment states.

The persecutory acts in Srebrenica in July 1995 were allegedly part of the “shared objective” to “eliminate” Bosnian Muslims from the enclave, and included forcible transfer or deportation, killings, and the “terrorizing and abuse” of Bosnian Muslims in nearby Potocari.

Counts 4, 5 and 6
Extermination (Crime Against Humanity),
Murder (Crime Against Humanity and a War Crime)

This count alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish the extermination and murder of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats in the municipalities, Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, and the murder of civilians in Sarajevo during the 44- month siege of the city.

Counts 7 and 8
Deportation (Crime Against Humanity),
Inhumane Acts (Forcible Transfer) (Crime Against Humanity)

This count alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish the forcible transfer and deportation of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the municipalities and from Srebrenica between March 1992 and November 1995.

The indictment alleges that beginning in March 1992, a number of factors caused Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats to “flee in fear” from their homes, including arbitrary arrest, harassment, torture, rape, killing and the destruction of houses.

Many fled to Srebrenica, which was declared a United Nations safe area in 1993. In March 1995, Mladic and other high-ranking leaders allegedly began implementing a plan to “take over the Srebrenica enclave and forcibly transfer and/or deport its Bosnian Muslim population”, the indictment states.

Furthermore, “prior to the takeover [of Srebrenica], humanitarian aid was restricted to the enclave, and civilian targets were shelled and sniped in an effort to make life impossible for the inhabitants of the enclave and to remove its population”.

The “forcible removal of women, young children and some elderly men from the enclave” after it was taken over in July 1995 “formed part of the objective to eliminate the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica”, states the indictment.

Counts 9 and 10
Acts of Violence the Primary Purpose of which is to Spread Terror among the Civilian Population (War Crime),
Unlawful Attacks on Civilians (War Crime)

This count alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish crimes of terror and unlawful attacks on civilians in Sarajevo.

After Bosnia and Hercegovina declared independence and was internationally recognised, the city was subjected to “blockade, bombardment and sniper attacks”, the indictment states.

Mladic, allegedly working with other members of the joint criminal enterprise, used members of the Bosnian Serb “Sarajevo Forces” to “establish and implement a military strategy that used sniping and shelling to kill, maim, wound and terrorise the civilian inhabitants of Sarajevo” between April 1992 and November 1995.

The sniping and shelling was allegedly carried out as people conducted “everyday civilian activities”.

“People were injured and killed inside their homes…The constant threat of death and injury caused trauma and psychological damage to the civilian inhabitants of Sarajevo,” the indictment states.

Count 11
Taking of Hostages (War Crime)

This count alleges that Mladic committed in concert with others, planned, instigated, aided and abetted, and/or failed to prevent or punish the taking of United Nations military observers and peacekeepers as hostages between May 26 and June 19, 1995.

The alleged purpose of this was to “compel NATO to abstain from conducting air strikes against Bosnian Serb military targets”.

Threats were issued that “further NATO attacks on Bosnian Serb military targets would result in the injury, death, or continued detention of the detainees”, some of whom were “assaulted or maltreated” during their captivity, states the indictment.