Families of Bosnia victims head to the Hague for Mladic verdict

Families of Bosnia victims head to the Hague for Mladic verdict
By Euronews
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The so-called "Butcher of Bosnia" is indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes committed during the Bosnian war.

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Families of Bosnian war victims departed Sarajevo for the Hague on Monday to see a landmark verdict in the case of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic.

More than two decades after the massacres that occured across Bosnia during the earlies 90s, families of the fallen hope to finally get some closure, as Mladic is indicted for genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity.

Munevera Avdic’s husband was killed in a prison camp during the conflict.

She said: “It’s important that we see the verdict. This criminal must be punished. He let this happen. It was a genocide, all over Bosnia-Herzegovina against Muslims and Croats.”

In Srebrenica, the product of Mladic’s work is plain to see.

The names etched into the white marble of the victims memorial belonged to those killed at the hands of Bosnian Serb troops under the command of Mladic, who murdered over 8,000 Bosniak Muslims in and around the town.

Fikret Grabovica lost his six-year-old son during the shelling of Sarajevo.

“My child was killed,” he said. “ And hundreds of other parents also saw their children die in Sarajevo during the siege. The wounds that we have cannot be healed with anything. But, this verdict will be a little satisfaction, a little comfort for what we have gone through.”

According to the indictment, Mladic, known as the Butcher of Bosnia, directly organised and orchestrated mass murders in Srebrenica, as well as the random shelling of Sarajevo and the killings at prison camps in Prijedor.

The verdict will be handed down on Wednesday at the international war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.

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