Mothers of the men and boys massacred during the genocide in Srebrenica attended today the life imprisonment sentence of the Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Family members who lost loved ones in the Srebrenica massacre said no suitable sentence could be found for former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who was sentenced to life in prison today on charges of genocide in the Bosnian War. but they added that justice was served.
Vasva Smajlovic, 74, who lost her husband and son-in-law in the Srebrenica massacre, said no sentence for Mladic would ease her pain.
She said through tears, while watching the live broadcast of the decision on Malldiq's sentence, that she lost more than 50 members of her extended family in the massacre.
"Whatever decisions are made, our suffering remains the same. "I don't know if the sentence of life imprisonment would make me feel better," said Vasva.
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But her sister-in-law said that justice was served with this decision.
Bida Smajlovic, who last saw her husband in July 1995 when he was running through the forest while trying to leave Srebrenica, said there is nothing that can compensate for her pain. Her husband's remains were later found in a mass grave and buried in 2005, VOA reports.
"Those who run away never come back. Mladic would feel nothing, for any punishment. He does not feel our pain. But at least justice was served," she says.
Husbands and family members of Bosniak women were killed when Bosnian Serb forces, under the command of General Mladic, took control of the United Nations-protected region of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
They separated the women from the men and massacred around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in just a few days. This was the largest massacre in Europe after World War II.
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"The problem is with what happens after the decision. So far we have not seen the international community act. Even after the decision of the court created for the punishment of crimes in the former Yugoslavia, the sentences of this court were not respected", says the former mayor of Mitrovica, Camil Durakovic, a survivor of the massacre.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found Ratko Mladic guilty of 10 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the rules of war, including genocide in Srebrenica.
He was acquitted of genocide charges in 6 other districts.
But while Muslim women watched the broadcast of Ratko Mladić's sentencing hearing from their homes and from the memorial center for the victims of the massacre in Potocar, Srebrenica and the nearby town of Bratunac, they saw pictures of Mladić and some slogans that read: "You you are our hero".
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In Srebrenica, the Serbs asked did not want to comment on the punishment.
Bosnian Serbs see Ratko Mladic as their hero and protector. The deep polarization between them and their Bosnian Muslim neighbors on the subject of war shows that the reconciliation process in Bosnia has been extremely slow.
