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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2017 News 8 SOCIAL EVENTS, SEASONAL PARTIES... Looking for a venue-wi-a-difference for your event? Gianpula Village offers a range of original and unique venues perfect for creating at memorable occasion. To make an enquiry or book a show round call (356) 9974 8923 or email sales@gianpulavillage.com www.gianpulavillage.com CORPORATE EVENTS CLUB HOUSE • VAULT • PENTHOUSE AS the UN war crimes court prepares to wrap up its work with a verdict in the landmark genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mlad- ic, deep divisions persist in the Balkans over the tribunal's role in delivering justice and paving the way for reconciliation in the war-torn region of Europe. Mladic's trial is the last major case for the Netherlands-based tribunal for former Yugoslavia, The tribunal was set up in 1993 to prosecute those most respon- sible for the worst carnage in Europe since World War II. It declared that its aim is to "deter future crimes and render jus- tice to thousands of victims and their families, thus contributing to a lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia." More than 20 years on, how- ever, the nations in the region are still led by nationalist politi- cians and remain divided deeply along ethnic lines. Known as the "Butcher of Bos- nia," Mladic was charged with 11 counts of genocide and war crimes for the war's worst atroc- ities, including the 1995 slaugh- ter by his troops of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Sre- brenica, or the three-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. While widely seen as a symbol of Bosnian war horrors, Mladic is still revered as a hero by many Serbs. In his native Bosnian village of Bozinovici, the main street is named after Mladic and almost every house cher- ishes at least one photo of him. T-shirts with his wartime por- trait and inscription "Serbian Hero" are sold on the streets of Serbian towns. The 75-year-old former gen- eral, who insists he is innocent, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted. Unlike Serbs, most Muslim Bosniaks in Bosnia be- lieve Mladic deserves to spend the rest of his days in prison. Among them is Ramiza Burzic, who lost her two sons in the Srebrenica massacre and so far has found just partial remains of one of them. "I expect that he will be sen- tenced to life in prison, so that all his progeny will know what kind of a man he was and what he did," said Burzic. This ethnic divide is also re- flected in how various ethnic groups judge the tribunal's lega- cy — Serbs, who account for the bulk of the tribunal indictments, view the court as highly biased, while the other ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia generally harbour a more positive stance. "I don't think the tribunal has helped reconciliation, but rath- er has contributed to further worsening of the situation," Ser- bia's Prime Minister Ana Brn- abic said recently. "No one can say that the Hague tribunal has been objective toward all sides in the conflict of the 1990s." Chief UN War Crimes Pros- ecutor Serge Brammertz said in The Netherlands that "every time a judgment is coming out in The Hague, one group will be very pleased and the other one very unhappy." "Those reactions show much more that the underlying rea- sons of the conflict are still very much there," Brammertz said. "So I don't think that account- ability — that a judicial process in itself — can lead to recon- ciliation. Reconciliation has to come from within society, has to come from the victims and perpetrators' community." The long-awaited Mladic ver- dict is seen as a milestone in the efforts to bring the main actors to justice. The tribunal failed to reach a final ruling in the case of Slobodan Milosevic, the for- mer Serbian president widely regarded as the driving force behind the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, who died in his pris- on cell in 2006, before the end of his trial. However, the court has so far indicted 161 people of different Balkan nationalities and sent dozens of war criminals to jail — ranging from top leaders to low-ranking soldiers. It has es- tablished evidence of large-scale atrocities against civilians such as murder, enslavement, expul- sion, torture or rape. Experts also argue that the tri- bunal is primarily a legal insti- tution that was never expected to reconcile the feuding Balkan nations but was set up to estab- lish the facts based on evidence which could help future recon- ciliation. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia erupted after the breakup of the former multi- ethnic federation in the early 1990s, with the worst crimes taking place in Bosnia. More than 100,000 people died and millions lost their homes before a peace agreement was signed in 1995. Landmark Mladic verdict closely watched in the Balkans Ratko Mladic