Wonderful news for any of us who followed the horrors of the break up of Yugoslavia, and witnessed hundreds of thousands killed in the nationalist wars that followed. The Yugoslav wars were mainly inspired by the Serbian Leader Slobodan Milosevic, his henchman Radovan Karadzic in Bosnia, and his key military leader, Ratko Mladic.
The last key figure of that evil triumvirate, responsible for mass murder, rape and ethnic cleansing, has been arrested in Serbia. According to Belgrade’s Blic Newspaper
Ratko Mladic was arrested five hours ago by the Security information Agency (BIA), reports the Serbian daily “Blic”. Mladic, who was arrested in Lazarevo, near Zrenjanin, has been using false papers and identified himself as Milorad Komadic….
“With his arrest we ended a very difficult period and removed a stigma from Serbia and Serbian people, wherever they are. I think that this operation shows that the institutions of the state of Serbia made this country safe and secured the rule of law”, Mr. Tadic said.
This is also great news for the people of Serbia who, with this last arrest, have a pathway to join the EU and acquire the norms of the civil society, probity and free elections contained its protocols. As Serbian president Boris Tadic has just said
On behalf of the republic of Serbia, I inform you that Ratko Mladic was arrested this morning … The extradition process is taking place.
Mladic will be extradited to the Hague where he’ll face the following charges from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Count 1: genocide
Count 2: complicity in genocide
Count 3: Persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds
Count 4: Extermination
Count 5: Murder
Count 6: Murder
Count 7: Deportation
Count 8: Inhumane acts (forcible transfer)
Count 9: unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians
Count 10: murder
Count 11: murder
Count 12: cruel treatment
Count 13: inhumane acts
Count 14: attacks on civilians
Count 15: taking of hostages