Serbian PM on Ratko Mladic Verdict: The Hague Tribunal is a Political Court

Ana Brnabic (BETAPHOTO/European Council/Gaetan/MO)

Commenting on the life sentence handed down to the former commander of the Republika Srpska Army, Ratko Mladic, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has said that the Hague tribunal is “a political court.” She declined to say anything else about the final verdict for “having to be cautious, not to harm Serbia” with any further comments. 

In the evening on June 8 Brnabic also said that when politics “meddle” in the justice system, “justice and law go out the window.” “In my conversations with the people from that court my biggest objection was that the court has not contributed to reconciliation in the Balkans but has distanced us from it, that it has actually driven us farther apart than where we have been 26 years ago,” she said. 

The prime minister pointed out that the court had contributed to intolerance between the peoples in the Balkans being “in some situations” much worse than 26 years ago, during the war, and that justice for crimes committed against the Serbs has not been served. 

“I was told that the court was not formed to contribute to reconciliation, but I do not agree with that. In my opinion, had the court done its job as it should have, had all those affected by the war felt that justice has been done, it [the court] would have contributed to reconciliation,” Brnabic added. 

Ratko Mladic was convicted by the Hague tribunal to life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity against non-Serbs during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court’s Appeals Chamber rejected the appeals of both Mladic’s defense and the prosecution.