Today Ratko Mladic has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Yugoslavia Tribunal. ‘The butcher of the Balkans’ has been found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Peace organisation PAX is pleased with this verdict and sees it as recognition of the grief of survivors and relatives.
For more than two decades the women of Srebrenica had been waiting to witness the ICTY sentence Ratko Mladic. For many years, he was on the run – protected by many people, also in Serbian government circles. For the victims of Srebrenica, he is – more than Radovan Karadzic – the key perpetrator. They see him as the personification of evil.
Peace organization PAX had made it possible for eight women to attend the ruling in The Hague today. PAX has been supporting them for many years in a campaign for truth and justice.
‘Restoring trust among citizens is very important’
This has been the last verdict of the ICTY. PAX spokesman Dion van den Berg hopes that after the completion of the tribunal, the search for justice won’t stop. “My hope is that after this verdict, other matters apart from the legal ones will get attention, such as restoring trust among the different populations and amends for the victims, that’s very important. We hope this verdict will be the starting point of a new strategy to evoke countries and nations to have a conversation about the past and find a common road that leads to democracy and membership of the European Union.”