Nearly three decades after the outbreak of war in the Balkans, which saw some of the most shocking atrocities in Europe since the end of World War II, the conviction of the chief military commander of the bloodletting was upheld on Tuesday by an international tribunal. The commander, the Bosnian Serb former general Ratko Mladic, was convicted in 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison. On Tuesday, that verdict was upheld by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, drawing a close to one of the darkest chapters in modern European history and ending a legal struggle that stretched back to 1995, when Mr. Mladic was first indicted. Now 79, Mr. Mladic has always maintained that he was just fulfilling his military duties and was defiantly unapologetic throughout the course of the proceedings.

Source: International New York Times June 08, 2021 12:15 UTC