HMDT’s response to the Ratko Mladić trial verdict

His crimes include responsibility for the deliberate removal of populations, the destruction of private and public property, misleading the media, the shelling of civilians in Sarajevo, spreading terror, taking UN personnel hostage and the Genocide in Srebrenica.

Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which commemorates the Genocide in Bosnia each year on Holocaust Memorial Day, said:

‘Holocaust Memorial Day Trust welcomes this verdict, a hugely significant milestone in the pursuit of justice by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The verdict proves the Bosnian-Serb political and military leadership deliberately pursued steps of incremental, targeted persecution leading to, and including, genocide during the Bosnian War.

Many survivors of the Genocide in Srebrenica, the families of those who were murdered at Srebrenica, and the survivors and families of victims of other appalling atrocities committed during the Bosnian War will welcome this verdict. As they have rebuilt their lives in the years since the war and genocide, international efforts to hold those responsible to justice have continued. The guilty verdict returned in the case of Ratko Mladić is a landmark decision which clearly shows where responsibility for these crimes lies.

Today we welcome this verdict, but we also pause to remember all those who were murdered by Ratko Mladić’s forces and stand in solidarity with their families.’

Find out more about:

• The genocidal massacre in Srebrenica
• Life Stories of those affected by the Genocide in Bosnia