Yesterday afternoon, the UN Security Council held a discussion on the future of the Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. In addition to statements by the President and the Prosecutor, representatives from many countries spoke. Russia and Serbia argued for the release of Ratko Mladić, a convicted war criminal guilty of genocide, citing humanitarian reasons.
The Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Šejla Đurbuzović, also shared her views on these requests. Among other things, she said:
It is always fascinating, from the perspective of credibility and moral integrity, to hear complaints from convicted war criminals and genocide convicts when they seek premature release. Today, we heard a new reason – humanitarian grounds. To be clear, we are talking about the “slaughterer of Bosnians,” the one responsible for the deaths of over eight thousand innocent people in Srebrenica. He is the one who ordered the merciless shelling of Sarajevo for 1,425 days. His name is Ratko Mladić. I wonder if they have ever looked into the eyes of a mother whose son was murdered, or who watched her daughter being relentlessly raped, or the one who lost her entire family, with the same empathy and care they show the monster responsible for these crimes. If anything, when he dies, he will have a grave. Something will remain as a sign, no matter how much he is hated. Many mothers died without the chance to bury even a single bone of their children. Therefore, I am asking what humanitarian reasons we are discussing. Did he care about all the crimes for which he was convicted? After entering Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, Ratko Mladić declared the city free for Serbian people, stating, and I quote: “We are here on July 11 in Serbian Srebrenica, the day before the great Serbian holiday. We are giving this city as a gift to the Serbian people. Finally, the day has come, after the rebellion against the Dahijas (the Ottoman renegades), to take revenge on the Turks in this place.” End of quote. These are his words, not mine; this is not artificial intelligence, and it was recorded by cameras that tracked his every step. Has he ever apologized, revealed the locations of mass graves, or shown any sign of regret as a basis for empathy or early release? We trust President Santana’s explanation, who rejected this request, stating that the ‘Mandela Rules’ have been fully complied with in every aspect. The same cannot be said for those he enslaved and slaughtered in Srebrenica. Therefore, to be clear, we wish him a very long life – long enough to hold him responsible for at least eight thousand innocent people he mercilessly sent to death. This is all the empathy we can offer,” the ambassador concluded, N1 writes.
