The Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses announced the news of the death of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
In the official statement, they emphasize that Mladić cannot and should not be talked about outside the context of the terrible crimes for which he was legally convicted, and that his death does not change the facts established by the court.
The Association points out that thousands of murdered, expelled, imprisoned and tortured people, destroyed towns and villages, the siege of Sarajevo, the systematic persecution of the non-Serb population and, above all, the genocide in Srebrenica, in which more than eight thousand Bosniak men and boys were killed, remain behind Mladić’s name.
The association recalls the final judgment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts from 2021, which sentenced Mladić to life imprisonment.
“These are not political qualifications or a matter of subsequent historical interpretation. These are facts established before an international court. The death of Ratko Mladić does not represent the end of the story, nor does it reduce responsibility for the crimes committed. On the contrary, his name will remain permanently written in international history as the name of one of the world’s most serious war criminals from the end of the twentieth century,” the reaction states.
Special emphasis in the statement was placed on the political and institutional system that created, supported and for years protected Mladić from the face of justice. The association reminds that Belgrade did not see Mladić as a lone fugitive, but as a product of a structure that allowed him to avoid responsibility for decades.
It is also reminded of the verdict of the International Court of Justice, which established Serbia’s responsibility for violating the obligation to prevent genocide and punish its perpetrators.
The association says that history must not stop at Mladić as an individual, but must review and condemn the structures that supported him.
In the conclusion of the statement, the Association says that Mladić’s legacy is not any military or national achievement, but only victims, mass graves, camps and destroyed lives.
“The duty of our generation is not to give the last word to the dead. It is our duty to give the last word to the victims – their dignity, their right to the truth and the right of future generations to know what happened. Ratko Mladić died, but the crimes for which he was convicted did not die with him. The memory of the victims must outlive him and any policy that tries to relativize the truth,” concludes the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide.
