Bosnia-Herzegovina/International criminal justice – Conviction of Ratko Mladić (8 June 2021)

I welcome the decision taken by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals to sentence Ratko Mladić definitively to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995).

This decision confirms Ratko Mladić’s responsibility in the Srebrenica genocide, which remains etched in our memories as the worst massacre Europe experienced since the end of the Second World War, in the conflict which killed more than 100,000 and created over 2 million displaced people and refugees.

This conviction will not bring back the thousands who died or erase the suffering of the victims, but it is a milestone for justice and the fight against impunity in the Western Balkans, as well as for international criminal justice as a whole. The facts definitively established in this judgment must be unanimously accepted and serve as a basis for reconciliation.

France is a staunch supporter of international criminal justice and is committed to the fight against impunity throughout the world.