Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Ratko Mladic faces his accusers
Ratko Mladic caused consternation among alleged victims' families during the open of his trial by asking for two months to consider the charges against him Photograph: Serge Ligtenberg/Getty Images
Ratko Mladic caused consternation among alleged victims' families during the open of his trial by asking for two months to consider the charges against him Photograph: Serge Ligtenberg/Getty Images

Ratko Mladic, truculent and smirking, faces his accusers at The Hague

This article is more than 12 years old
After 16-year wait, Srebrenica's women come face to face with commander accused of slaughtering their men and boys

Munira Subasic last saw Ratko Mladic at Srebrenica in 1995, when she begged him to leave her ill son alone. On Friday, 16 years on and with her son still missing, presumed dead, in a massacre that claimed more than 7,000 lives, Subasic came face to face again with the Bosnian Serb commander accused of the atrocity.

"He lied to me and took my son to his death," she said outside the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, where Mladic was arraigned on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. "I come here today to see the butcher again and to see if his eyes are bloody, because they were bloody in 1995," she added.

Just after 10am, as the blinds rose on the partition separating the packed public gallery from court one, Subasic got to find out. There stood Mladic, flanked by UN security guards and defiantly saluting his victims, their families, interested diplomats and the world's media. He wore a grey military-style cap, suit and tie. Seemingly determined to present himself as a military leader and not the criminal that the prosecution accuses him of being, Mladic turned to salute the judge.

It was the opening act of an extraordinary performance in which the 69-year-old expressed deep pride in his actions and no remorse. He even taunted his alleged victims and their families, including Subasic and a group of other Bosnian Muslim victims. He described the charges against him as "obnoxious", refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and described the indictment as "monstrous words that I have never heard before".

In a trial that could take years, Mladic caused consternation among the victims' families by asking for two months to consider the 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war during his time as commander of the army under the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

The charges relate to the massacre at Srebrenica, where more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed by Mladic's forces, the shelling and sniping operation against Sarajevo, during which thousands of civilians were killed or injured, wider "ethnic cleansing", and taking hostage 200 UN peacekeepers and military observers to use as human shields.

Claims had circulated this week that Mladic was at death's door, with his lawyer in Serbia warning that his client might even die before the trial could begin. There were reports that Mladic had been treated for cancer in 2009. "I am a gravely ill man," he told the judge.

But from appearances, the defendant at The Hague did not seem like a man at death's door. He was alert and responsive and held his head high with a jutted-out jaw reminiscent of the days when he led the Bosnian Serb army. Movement in his right hand appeared to be slightly inhibited and he needed help to put on his translation headphones. But he was mobile, at various points clapping his hands, waving his fist while addressing the judge, and even making a T-shape with his arms to call for a timeout as if he were a basketball or baseball coach. His speech was slightly slurred, but he seemed like a general who wanted to remain in control.

Asked if he wanted to hear the full indictment against him, Mladic told the presiding judge, Alphons Orie: "I do not want to hear a single letter or sentence of that indictment read out to me."

The judge ignored him and read a summary of the charges which, even in its abbreviated form, took 21 minutes.

Mladic's pride seemed to be wounded by his treatment and in one of several outbursts he said he would have preferred to have been killed than handled, as he was in the Netherlands, by masked police.

"When I saw the balaclavas worn by these people I don't like that," he said. "I would rather be killed by a policeman either here or in the US or anywhere. If they were to kill me, Ratko Mladic, so that it could be reported in the press, fine, but I defended my country. I am Ratko Mladic, I did not kill Croats as Croats, and I am not killing anyone in Libya or in Africa … I was just defending my country."

When the judge said "the accused shall be innocent until proved guilty," Mladic nodded, smirked towards the gallery and stroked his stubble.

Throughout, the chief prosecutor of the court who has arranged the case against Mladic, Belgian lawyer Serge Brammertz, looked on impassively.

The most highly charged moments of the hearing took place off camera.

Time and again, Mladic turned to the public gallery, where Subasic sat with four other women who between them lost several dozen family members, including children, siblings and husbands at Srebrenica.

After the indictment was read out, he fixed the gaze of Kada Hotic, who had lost her son, husband and two brothers.

During an exchange between him and Hotic through the glass he could be seen waving his finger at her and smiling. She said that he made a gesture to her with his thumb and forefinger indicating that she was small.

"I looked through the glass and said to him, I want you to know that you murdered my only son," Hotic said emotionally after Friday's hearing concluded.

On another occasion, as the judge addressed Mladic about the procedure, the defendant appeared to switch off and turned to the victims again, smirking and nodding at them.

One of them, Bakira Hascic, had been raped by Bosnian Serb forces and in total lost 27 members of her extended family. Munira Subusic lost 22 members of her family, including her youngest son, whose remains have never been found.

Several times during the one hour, 40 minute hearing they had to be calmed down gently by the UN security guards.

"I am very unsatisfied because I feel too much time is given to him and the court is pleasing him too much," said Zumra Sehonerovic, who lost her son and other members of her family. "He doesn't need time to remember what he did. He knows it well."

Asked about his repeated gestures, grins and smirks towards the victims, she said it brought back memories of seeing him at Srebrenica.

"He was doing the same thing in 1995 when he came to Srebrenica," she said. "It reminded me of all the crimes he committed in 1995.

"My dear wish is that he is condemned and sentenced for the crimes he has committed. I won't worry too much about his health. I would have been happier if he had been arrested 10 years before. It would have been much more important for us the victims."

Subasic added: "As a victim, I hope he lives a long life and feels the pain and to know what it is like to live with such a burden he gave us."

The judge set a date for a second appearance on 4 July, by which time Mladic will be expected to enter a plea. He told Mladic he would be returned to UN custody until then.

As the blinds came down Mladic waved again to the gallery, put on his hat, and was helped out of his chair and to his feet. He then gave a final salute to the public.

The victims could contain themselves no longer and called out clearly in Bosnian: "Butcher!"

More on this story

More on this story

  • Ratko Mladic removed from war crimes court after being disruptive

  • Mladic was not alone

  • Ratko Mladic at The Hague: body language for a history lesson

  • Mladic rebukes war crimes court for 'obnoxious' charges

  • Ratko Mladic blasts 'obnoxious, monstrous' genocide charges - video

  • Survivors react to Ratko Mladic's court appearance: 'It's too late for euphoria'

  • Ratko Mladic: 'I defended my people and my country' – video

  • Bosnian war tensions surface outside Ratko Mladic war crimes trial - video

  • Ratko Mladic's extradition is a great day for international justice

  • Ratko Mladic asks to tell court about his health in private session - video

Most viewed

Most viewed