One of the most infamous monsters of the 20th century, Ratko Mladić, died in the detention unit in Scheveningen. His arrest in Lazarevo village is proof that he was equally dishonorable in hiding from justice as he was during the war, which will be proven during the trial.
Ratko Mladić was arrested on May 26, 2011, in Lazarevo village after 16 years spent hiding away from justice, or better said, after 16 years of enjoying the protection of the institutions and individuals of the Serbian state.
“On behalf of the Republic of Serbia, I inform you that Ratko Mladić was arrested today in the early morning hours. He was arrested in a coordinated action carried out by the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) and the War Crimes Investigation Service,” said after the arrest the then president of Serbia and the head of the then ruling Democratic Party (DS) Boris Tadić.
The head of the Action team for Locating and Arresting Hague Fugitives in Serbia, Vladimir Vukčević, recalled in an interview with the BBC three years ago how the arrest took place.
The family gathering in Lazarevo village near Zrenjanin was used for this purpose.
“Their family slava is St. George’s Day and his son’s family was visiting, so we noticed they were taking a lot of photos. We thought a courier would bring family photos to Bosnia, because we had information that Mladić was there. We waited for the courier, but he did not come out, so we decided to take action (…) When the police entered the house, Mladić tried to hide behind the door. When they found him, they did not recognize him immediately, mada he did not have a Hollywood-style disguise like Karadžić. On the table were documents under the name of Ratko Mladić; he admitted they were his,” Vukčević emphasized.
Even after the arrest, Mladić enjoyed a special status in Serbia, so before being sent off to the Netherlands, he was allowed to visit the grave of his daughter Ana, who committed suicide in 1994.
In November, 2017, Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment in a first-instance verdict by the Hague Tribunal. He was convicted of persecution, murders, deportations, forced displacement, terrorizing, unlawful attacks on civilians, and taking hostages. On June 8, 2021, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) delivered its second-instance judgment confirming the life sentence for the criminal Ratko Mladić for genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, terrorizing the citizens of Sarajevo, and taking UNPROFOR personnel hostage, Klix.ba writes.
