parsifal
Colonel
A man I met more than 20 years ago, Robert Reid, Chief of Operations in the Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia gave a rare interview to ABC current affairs on Sunday. He has been instrumental in the tracking down, gathering of evidence and delivery of prosecutions to over 160 defendants in the ICTV set up for the war in the former Yugoslavia. Despite ferocious opposition at times usually in the form of obstinate obstruction on the part of those wishing to protect the criminals from all sides of the political spectrum and ethnic/religious divides that exist in the former republic, Robert and his team have pushed on to deliver some remarkable results in the tribunal
Final verdict in the trial of the 'butcher of Bosnia'
Ratko Mladic, faces judgement Wednesday for alleged genocide. He believed himself a crusading defender of the Serbs but was dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" for mass slaughter at the hands of his forces.
The ruthless commander of Bosnian Serb troops in the 1990s civil war, Mladic came to symbolise a barbaric plan to rid swathes of Bosnian territory of Croats and Muslims and carve out a Serb-only state.
Captured in 2011 after 16 years on the run, Europe's most wanted man was by then an ailing shadow of his former stocky self.
But the general's defiance appeared undimmed during his trial at The Hague, although he was dogged by ill health, and the 74-year-old remains a hero to many Serbs to this day.
To the families of war victims, he will forever be associated with the bloody 44-month siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.
Mladic presented the sacking of the eastern Bosnian enclave as retribution against "the Turks" for a massacre of Serbs under the Ottoman Empire, wrote journalist Julian Borger in his book "The Butcher's Trail", published last year.
"He reassured panicked Muslim women captives that their loved ones would be safe at the same time his soldiers were rounding up and slaughtering eight thousand of their husbands and sons," Borger wrote.
Mladic is charged with genocide over the killings, considered the worst atrocities on European soil since the end of World War II.
He will learn his fate on Wednesday from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 11 counts arising from the conflict, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mladic denies all the charges, describing them as "obnoxious" at his first court appearance in 2011.
"I defended my country and my people," he said. The prosecutuion team is seeking life imprisonment if they obtain a guilty verdict.
You can read about the biographies of the main players in the tribunal here, including Robert Reid.
I have one request. this is intended to be a discussion about the legal process, perhaps even a discussion on the usefulness of the tribunals. I see them as essential to the peace process in the Balkans. I request that this thread not in any way be politicised.
Final verdict in the trial of the 'butcher of Bosnia'
Ratko Mladic, faces judgement Wednesday for alleged genocide. He believed himself a crusading defender of the Serbs but was dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" for mass slaughter at the hands of his forces.
The ruthless commander of Bosnian Serb troops in the 1990s civil war, Mladic came to symbolise a barbaric plan to rid swathes of Bosnian territory of Croats and Muslims and carve out a Serb-only state.
Captured in 2011 after 16 years on the run, Europe's most wanted man was by then an ailing shadow of his former stocky self.
But the general's defiance appeared undimmed during his trial at The Hague, although he was dogged by ill health, and the 74-year-old remains a hero to many Serbs to this day.
To the families of war victims, he will forever be associated with the bloody 44-month siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.
Mladic presented the sacking of the eastern Bosnian enclave as retribution against "the Turks" for a massacre of Serbs under the Ottoman Empire, wrote journalist Julian Borger in his book "The Butcher's Trail", published last year.
"He reassured panicked Muslim women captives that their loved ones would be safe at the same time his soldiers were rounding up and slaughtering eight thousand of their husbands and sons," Borger wrote.
Mladic is charged with genocide over the killings, considered the worst atrocities on European soil since the end of World War II.
He will learn his fate on Wednesday from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 11 counts arising from the conflict, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mladic denies all the charges, describing them as "obnoxious" at his first court appearance in 2011.
"I defended my country and my people," he said. The prosecutuion team is seeking life imprisonment if they obtain a guilty verdict.
You can read about the biographies of the main players in the tribunal here, including Robert Reid.
I have one request. this is intended to be a discussion about the legal process, perhaps even a discussion on the usefulness of the tribunals. I see them as essential to the peace process in the Balkans. I request that this thread not in any way be politicised.
