Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™ LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

UN appeals judges uphold genocide conviction against former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic

UN appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic for genocide and confirmed his life sentence.

UN war crimes judges have upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić.

UN war crimes judges have upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić. Source: Anadolu

UN war crimes judges have upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, rejecting all grounds of his appeal against a lower tribunal's verdict.

Mladic, 78, led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

He was convicted in 2017 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes including terrorising the civilian population of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during a 43-month siege, and the killing of more than 8000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.

He had been convicted by trial and ordered to serve life in prison but appealed against both the verdict and sentence.

The Potocari memorial cemetery, just outside Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Potocari memorial cemetery, just outside Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Source: NurPhoto

The appeals chamber "dismisses Mladic appeal in its entirety..., dismisses the prosecution's appeal in its entirety..., affirms the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on Mladic by the trial chamber," said a written summary of the appeals judgment.

The verdict caps 25 years of trials at the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which convicted 90 people.

The ICTY is one of the predecessors of the International Criminal Court, the world's first permanent war crimes court, also seated in The Hague.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP, SBS



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world