18 October 2017•Update: 19 October 2017
By Talha Ozturk
BELGRADE, Serbia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) confirmed on Wednesday it is preparing to give its verdict on former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic who is facing war crimes charges.
Mladic faces charges of genocide, including the killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995, plus the targeting of civilians during his forces’ three-year siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.
The verdict on Mladic, who served as commander of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995, will be announced Nov. 22.
ICTY prosecutors have called for a life sentence for the 74-year-old, while Mladic's lawyers asked for his acquittal.
Mladic, often dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was arrested in Serbia in 2011 after 15 years in hiding.
