>> narrator: tonight on "frontline"... the man accused of the worst imes in europe since world war two. >> this is really what i came here for. nhis is the general we've b iting to arrest all these years. >> narrator: general ratko mladic, one of the most notorious figures from wars ithe former yugoslavia, finally goes on trial. >> the man accused of being the butcher of bosnia shows no remorse for the victims... >> arrator: filmed over five years. with exclusive access to the prosecutione. and defens >> all the evidence sa that our client is not guilty. and that's my firm belief. >> narrator: and the witnesses who came to testify.my >> i tolad, "no, i don't want to go without you." my uncle says, "get up.

you will survive." >> when more than 1500 people are murdered in a short time. and thousands more starved, degraded, tormented. the word for those crimes is genocide.>> arrator: tonight... "the trial of ratko mladic." >> frontline is made possible by contributions to yr pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporati public broadcasting. major support is provided by the hn d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, vdant and peaceful world. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen gr family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. the heising-simons foundation:

uncking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. additional support for this program is provided by the foowing: , (gunfiexplosions) ♪ ♪

>> a u.n. tribunal will imminently deliver its long-awaited verdict in the war crimes trial of former bosnian serb military commander ratko mladic, knn as the butcher of bosnia. >> narrator: november 22, 17, and the verdict at the trial of the bosnian serb ougeneral ratko mladic is to be delivered. >> mladic is accused of ordering the deaths of thousands of bosnian slims in the town of srebrenica. >> some of the victims were as young as 12. others older than 60. >> any last minute thoughts? are we ready to roll? >> we've got this, yeah. >> okay everybody, we're going to court.

♪ >> the international criminal tribunal for the forme yugoslavia is now in session. >> we are sitting today to deliver the chamber's judgment in this case. the accused, ratko mladic, stood trial for 11 counts of crimes allegedly committed in his capacity as the commander of the main staff of the army of the bosnian rb republic between the 12th of may 1992 and 30th of november 1995.e dictment charged two counts of genocide and five counts of crimes against humanity. namely prosecution, murder, extermination, deportation, and the inhumane act of forcible transfer.

♪ (explosion, rapid gunfire) >> narrator: throughout the 1990s, a series of brutal wars raged across the forr yugoslavia. (screaming, explosions) (car honking, people shouting) some four million people were displaced. an estimated 130,000 were killed. (gunshots)g with mountinevidence of war crimesthe united nations established a court to bringal ged perpetrators to justice. >> this will bno victor's tribunal-- the only victor that

will prevail in this endeavor is the truth. >> narrator: 161 suspects were eventually indicted. more than half would be found guilty. some would be acquitted. others would die before being prosecuted. (man speaking foreign language) with the capture of slobodan milosevic and radovan karadzic, two of the most senior political figures accused of war crimes, general ratko mladic became the court's most wanted. cr among his allegees, mladic was accused of masterminding the genocide of 7,000 muslim men and boys in srebrenica, consideredci the worst atro in europe since world war ii. (woman weeping)ic mlad gone into hiding when the war ended and was on the run for 16 years. >> on behalf of the republic of

serbia, i announce that today we arrested ratko mladic. >> police in serbia have arrested europe's most wanted war crime suspect. >> narrator: mladic was extradited to the hague toace justice. it would be the last trial at the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia. >> the chamber will now give its verdict. ♪ (footsteps echoi) >> for tomorrow i'll be standing here where the podium is.

mr. peron will be sat next to me, and then arthur will be sitting at thend. >> so, when i walk in tomorrow, everyone is going to be here, pretty much? >> everybody will be here. >> even the defense... >> the defense will be here, and in thewill already courtroom. >> okay. >> and he does have the two security guys on each side of him. the big thing to remember when you come in is a deep breath. >> yes. uss. i'm a little bit. (laughter) it bngs the memories back. ir >> the f witness that's testifng is an extraordinary young man who was 14 at the time, elvedin pasic, and it's a crime that occurred in 1992, and it mirrors the crime committed in srebrenica in 1995. and we'vdecided to call him first because it really demonstrates the way mladic approached war and his willingness to cmit terrible crimes. >>hat's the public gallery behind you there.t >> he will jll in his own words what happened to him and

hifamily. >> and my wife is going to be somewhere in the back room? >> yes, yes. o >>y. >> yeah, she'll be back, rightbe hind you. >> okay. >> hat's your impression of his recollection? >> rock solid. yes, yes. my impression is he... when he goes back in time he remembers it exactly as he experienced it. >> he says he's nervous but he... he looks okay.us he looksappropriate level of nervousness that you'd expect and i'm sure that'll be gone after the first few minutes in court. >> i agree. i think as soon as he, um... you know, sits down and startsg, talk think he'll be fine. ♪ ♪ >> narrator: ratko mladic is facing 11 charges, including two counts of genocide, considered the most serious crime under international law. >> peter, will we go? >> narrator: the prosecution must proveis intent to destroy

in whole or in part the non-serb population in bosnia. the defense sists he's innocent and never participated in or ordered any crimes. >> this is case ip09p, the prosecutor versus ratko mladic. >> thank you, madam registrar. mr. groome, is the prosecution m ready e its opening statement? >> it is, your honor. >> then you may proceed. >> your honors, four days ago marked two decades since ratko mladic became the commander the main staff of the army of republicf srpska, the vrs. on that day mladic beg his full participation in a criminal endeavor of ethnically cleansing much of bosn. the world watched in disbelief

that in neighborhoods and villages within europe, civilians were targeted for no other reason than they were of ethnicity other than serb, their land, their lives, their dignity attacked in a coordinated and carefully planned manner. the next time i address you about the evidence in this case will be at the end of the trial. at that time, when i come before you again, i will ask that you give the people of bosnia what they have waited so long for-- the truth about what ratko mladic did to that beautiful and complex land. ♪ the truth about what ratko mladic did to bosnia's people. ♪

>> is the prosecution ready call its first witness? >> your honor, the prosecutiondy is ro call its first witness, mr. elvedin pasic. >> i solemnly declare that i will speak the truth, the whole truth, andothing but the truth. >> thank you, mr. pasic. please be seated. you will now first be examinedby s. bibles, who's counsel for the prosecution. >> thank you mr. president, your honors. good afternoon, mr. pasic. could you tell us the size andic ety of your village? >> my village, hrvacani, was 100% mlim and approximately a hundred houses. >> i'm drawing your attention to may of 1992. was there a religious occasion celebrated in your village? >> yes, we were celebrating our holiday, bayram.th first day we went to the mosque, i was excited, as being a little boy.on

ur second day we were attacked. (gunfire) the bombs and, uh, the shells started landing in our village.p losions) (mortar whistling, exploding) ♪ we were instructed to form three lines and to lay down in this puddle of mud and water. um... i was laying day down next to... my dad was on my left-hand side, and my uncle was on my right-hand side-- and as i was laying down they ordered us to-- all the men and children-- to get up. and at first i didn't want to get up because i was afraid to separate fromy dad.

and he told me to get up. i i told him, "non't want to go without you." (whispering): heays, "get up." i said, "no." and my uncle insisted.s, he sget up, you will survive." (catching breath) since i'm reliving and going back to is, i had a dream about my dad last night. for the first time i was able to see his face. i'm glad because most of the dreams, the nightmares that i have from the personal experience, i was always trying as reach him. but i saw his facenight.

i miss my dad. let me find my dad, please i would li to find my dad. (birds chirping) ♪ >> narrator: for more than 35 years, bosnia and the rest of yugoslavia was ruled by josip broz tito. his policy of brotherhood and unity suppressed ethnic tensions

beeen serbs, muslims, and croats. following his death in 1980, the country began to fall apart. (jet engine roaring) (loud explosion) >> yugoslavia, a country at war with itself. ever since croatia and slovenia declared their independence, a nation of six republics is being dismantled by apparently unchecked force. now it's feared thatuffer republic of bosnia herzegovina could become t next theater of conflict. (gunshot) >> violence has broken out in the republic of bosnia herzegovina after its population voted at the weeke for independence from the rest of yugoslavia. 43% of the republic's population are muim. 31% are serbs and 17% are croats. the muslims and croats support independence, e serbs are fiercely opposed to it. >> last night the serbs proclaimed areakaway republic

inside bosnia, and today their leader radovan karadzic said they'd have to make their serbian state whatever t cost may be. (explosion)th e is chaos and anarchy, no functioning central authority, and the united nations headquartered here is apparently werless to intervene. (explosion) what remains of the bosnian government has dlared a state of war. (explosions)en >> enter geral mladic. ar>> he's the scourge of sevo, the chief warrior of the serbs. he's calleratko mladic. he's a man who has no doubts, only a total assurance that he's haght, the world's wrong, and that his people been slandered. >> mladic:

>> branko lukic: >> man: >> good afternoon, branko lukic. yes. >> branko lukic: >> mladic: >> mladic:

>> mladic: >> well, general mladic is my eighth client in front of the trunal, and its obvious th is the most important case in my career. my memories from the war were of course horrible. i had parents on doboj. it was serb-held territory, but bombed and shelled every day. my parents were protected by general mladic and his soldiers. and he would tell me always, "your parents live in doboj thanks to me."

>> narrator: while ihiding, general mladic suffered a heart attack and two strokes. his lawyers say they will not allow him to testify due to his "diminished physical atal state." mladic himself considers theo tribunal illegitimate and biased against serbs. >> woman: d >> we of course wove preferred having another trial aarting already, many, many years before and y for

sure right. when he... when he arrived in the hague last year, health situation was far from perfect. it's very, very diffict to measure the extreme importance of the arrest of mladic. we were looking for him for 16 years. when he arrived, it was a few days after his last stroke. he arrived as very sick man. today i think his situation is much, much better but we will see what happens. we have a lot of staff working extremely hard to make sure that this case can advance as fast as possible. >> okay, good afternoon. i wanted just to have a quick meeting today just to kind of attouch base on the preparn. things are starting to pick up speed now. i just want to make sure we're organized.en >> the twor trial attorneys are very experienced. they're working at this tribunal for many, many years. dermot is somehow the coordinator, more the organizer, and peter mccloskey, we call him sometimes mr. srebrenica because he has done a mber of srebrenica cases. >> the sound is very important

on this one. it sounds perfect. >>'m up pretty much at wximum. >> that's where wet to be. >> okay. >> narrator: peter mccloskey is in charge of prosecuting the srebrenica genocide. he a his team will try to prove that general mladic ordered the murder of over 7,00n muslimnd boys in 1995. mccloskey's already won convictions against several boian serb officers for genocide in srebrenica, but he believes the mladic was in command of the operation. i've prosecuted some of his generals and some of his commanders, but nothing like having the man himself. mladic is the guy that's really ngnds on in the face of the muslims and ordehe murders directly. di >>c: >> and i put this with the

murder, his first calling, "calm down, ca down," and then he's calling them... >> okay. >> so, i put that segment in, where he's calling.. >> where it should be. >> yeah, where it is logically. (man shouting) >> zoran is helping me with the clip of a muslim man-- is it ramo? >> ramo. >> ramo osmanovic. he's calling... the serbsng are maim call to bring other muslims out of the woods c and heling his son nermin. >> can you check nermin and his father, where they were found? >> can you igine how hard it is to call your son and then th kill your son? they promise you tt they will save them because if they surrender they will be all safe.

so he's calling son, son cam and... >> i was just asking theo investigator tgive me the details of which mass grave thee ound in so that i can tell the court that. >> if i watch too much of it, i... you know, it's... it still get... it gets to you. (keyboard keys clacking) i got here in the fall of 1996, and i was meeting survivors at rie refugee camps and getting to know them and h their stories. at the same time, on the same missions i was with the investigator and we would travel into the republic of srpska with a huee escort, borrowed shovels from the local police and start digging in this disturbed soil to see what was under this disturbed soil, because we suspected they were

mass graves. and sure enough, every time we found one of these places, we found body remains were of course the... we understood the loved ones of the people we'd inrviewed the day before. i've been so close to thisor worko long, and so close to the victims, it becomes rather difficult to deal with the carnage. there's a certain darkness that comes over me when this thing starts, especially when the victims are here. (birds chirping) om exhaling) (water flowing from hose)

>> saliha osmanovic:

(birds chirping) ♪ >> mladic: >> sby the afternoon of 11 july, mladic and his forces entered srebrenica town. they found it almost completely vacant >> mladic: s

>> after tinous remark about revenge, mladic's troops captured and systematically murdered thousands of srebrenica men and boys. >> a human tragedy is unfolding in the eastern enclave of srebrenica. bosnian serb infantry havetm effectively oueuvered the un and taken control of the town. resistance was reported to be minimal.

>> the town was supposed a be ap safe havrotected by the moral and miliry force of the world community in the shape of the un.un >> there are heds of hundreds of people, around probably 20,000 or more surrounding the dutch battalionp ound and everybody isin fleethe city. (crowd clamoring) >> after overrunning srebrenica town, the serbs surrounded the un base nearby at potocari where up to 40,000 refugees have gathered. ♪ >> the bosnian serb commander in chief, general ratko mladic,st ied the attack, stating it was to rout muslim terrorists and to demilarize the enclave, at operation, he added, th the un had failed to complete.

>> a senior un official heret today said tere was nothing the un can do at the moment short of going to war t wi bosnian serbs, and that is very mu not on the agenda. te (indistinct chat wailing) (crowd clamoringbaby crying) >> man: >> this case involves tw horrendous crimes-- the forced movement of the muslim population together with the mass murder of thousands of bosnian muslim men and boys all amounting to the elimination of the muslim population from srebrenica and genocide. mladic was psent in potocari j

on 12 and 13y, while the vrs began the process of putting the women and children on buses to muslim controlled territory and separating and holding the muslim men and boys for execution. ♪ (car door opens) >> it's not very...

it's not very fancy here. it's messy. the part where im asking you questis, i think it's going to seem actually very short, surprisingly. dyd i think that you've probably been told this alrbut mladic will also be in the courtroom sitting up behind his lawyers. we hope that he stays quiet and listens because he should hear what you have to say. li the reason we called sa osmanovic is because she decided on the 11th of july that she had to leave with her family from srebrenica, otherwise she would be... she would be killed byhe serbs, and this is... this is the ethnic cleansing, this is the forcible transfer count. and so that's the first thing we bring out with her. >>aer situation was all of sudden it is not safe for us to be here in our home anymore. >> okay, well there's... there's fleeing the fighting, which is normal, and we'd all do that when the shells starte >> right, yes. >> was there anything indicated

in her mind, anything else f besides jueing, shells falling? >> well, and it's not just shellsalling, it's a sense of being... what she communicated at least was, "i as a muslim am nogoing to be safe here." not just "i might get caught in some random... random crossfire." she actually said, "yeah, was safe if you wanted to get your throat slit." >> how are you doing? >> not too bad. >> (speaks local language) >> (speaks local language) i can do that too. okay, i'll see you in there in a minute. (ramo shouting on video)

>> (sighs): mrs. osmanovic, do you recognize the man that's featured in that video? >> you state that you went tori poton 11 july. did you go to potocari from the town of srebrenica? >> up until the moment that youo ded the bus in potocari, do you feel like you could have stayed in srebrenica if you wanted to?

>> stojanovic: >> what is being described as deportation by the prosecution in relation to srebrenica was a humanitarian evacuation that was agreed too by all sides. my goal with thiwitness is to see if i can link up certain parts of her written testimony to video footage thaave of the actual events that she seems to be describing. we hope to show our client

general mladic acting in a very humane light providing food and water to the civilians that we located there. i'd like to move now t your statement where you talk about an encounter with general mladic, and when hsaid that first the women and children could go, and you all moved towards the buses and trucks. i would like to take a look at a video to see if this accuratelye cts the incident you're talking about. >> mladic: >> the demeanor of g mladic, is it similar to or different from the demeanor ofad general during the encounter that you remember with him?

>> madam, you mentioned that there was water and chocolates being handed out. was there also bread being handed out by the vrs rs? >> mrs. osmanovic, the chamber understands that being taken back to the events must be emotional for you. we appreciate that you came.

you may now follow the usher. >> osmanovic: >> i don't see how you did... you were just wonderful. (translar speaking) thank you. >> danny really shook her. although she was a victim, and when you have a victim in front of you, you have to deal with thvictim very, very nicely very softly. but still he was capable of shaking her. we have the instruction from thr general to say to a victim, and i never do that. it's not my job. or he instructs me that, no. my job is to cro-examine. i'm a lawyer, i cross-examine. if you want to apologize, write a letter. ♪

>> hundreds of bodies believed to have been killed by serb forces have been found in a mass grave in bosnia in the prijedor area. ex>> they knew this grave isted for years, but bosnian serb witnesses kept silent about its location. >>he ghosts of the missing still haunt the villages here and the graveyards still wait for the dead.ry this discoould bring an end to that waiting and bring evidence of war crimes that can no longer be hidden. >> narrator: it's late 2013, and a mass grave has been discovered on the site of the tomasica iron mine in prijedor, northwest bosnia. in addion to srebrenica, mladic is accused of genocide in prijedor and five other e nicipalities. prosecutors beliat the

tomasica mass grave could provide important new evidence to support this second genocide charge. >> once you stripped off the top layer of earth, did u, at that stage know that there re likely to be bodies there? >> we could see the changes in the... >> in the earth? >> we need to strip e ground so to get to this yellow... >> and this is the actual... >> grey clay, yes. >> okay. >> then because air uldn't get through that clay, bodies are well preserved. >> and do the patholists think that because of that soft tissue that ty can make findings about cause of death and... >> exactly. >>h, good, okay. and a lot of this was organized by the army itself? >> army and the police. and the police, yeah. >> and the local police.

♪ ♪ >> i must say one thing-- justin loaround here, it's just so massive. and to think that all of this was dug up and bodies were put in here, and people were bought here and executed here, and ther s tons and tons of earth that was then put on top of it, it's beyond anythinghat i've ever dealt with. ♪ >> prijedor was the first ace to be ethnically cleansed withrb

vicious setrocities. >> we'reery upset to see outright murder, burning people to death in their own homes, dragging them out in the street and shooting them at point blank range. >> omarska concentration camp, hnic cleansing at its most graphic. enousands of muslims in sces chillingly reminiscent of the holocaust. ♪ ♪ (machinery humming)

>> and you can see the different states. >> yeah. >> also over there, that'll be solid. >> yeah. >> what kinds of injuries are you finding, the ones that you can determine an injury? >> it's mainly high velocity gunshot. >> to the back of the head, or... >> yeah, there's quite a lot oft targ ones. >> oh, yeah? >> there's a skull over there which, as you see, is being reconstructed and all this shattering is typical of high velocity injury. once it's all put together, there's still quite a lot of good evidence you can.e can see from it. >> and you can see the tragedy of it, you know, when you look around. i an it's clear that these are not soldiers, these e,e women, there are even some children over thnd this is just an outrage that these people were... were killed in

the way they were killed and dumped in a... at the site that they were dumped. in terms of the case, it's so important because inerms of proving that they were murdered by people that are aable to mladic, we need to have at evidence. wi the prosecutio seek to tender this newly acquired tomasi evidence. >> narrator: the court must now decide whethero allow prosecutors to use the new evidence from the mass grave. >> ...revealed in tomasica ll be relevant to the chambers' consideration of count one in the indictment of genocide. >> narrator: it coultake the judges several months to reach a decision. ♪ >> to establish genocide in prijedor, i have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that mladic had genocidal intent. in other words, that it was his intent to physically destr in

whole or in part the muslim population in prijedor. that's a pretty high burden. it's a pretty difficult thing to do. h but e some features of tomasica that give me hope that we just may succeed. our early investigations are indicating now that the vrs was directly involved, that they requisitioned the mining equipment, the diggers, the bulldozers, the dump trucks to dig this massive hole and to bury these bodies, you know, 24 to 30 feet below the dirt. so it's that kind of direct involvement with respect to the things that happened, th were done by people under his control, that once and for all blestablishes beyond reaso doubt that what happened in prijedor constituted genocide. and nothing le >> nrator: for both the prijedor and srebrenica genocide charges, the prosecution must roove that mladic was in command and control of thes that carried out the killings.in

he case of srebrenica, they have video evidence that mladic himself led talks with the town's muslim inhatants in the days leading up to the bloodshed.

>> so do you find, as a military person, general mladic's presence at this meeting... dyou find that to be an exercise of command? he >> yes sir the commander of the army of the republic of srpska. ng everythat he does or everything that he does not do as the commander is an exercise of command. >> he's nopulling the trigger. we don't have him standing at any execution site. but we have to show that he is in command of the troops that are doing it, and he's fully aware of what is going on and in fact ordered it and began the whole ocess, which the evidence is very clear on.

>> general dannatt, from aar purely milperspective, is general mladic responsible for the conduct of his subordinates in srebrenica? >> well, it's clear to me that he exercised a large measure of t personal control as to ws he was known to be a big character, and therefore what he said and what he ordered, people were likely to do. >> this crime was carried out in a military fashion with militard troopsilitary transport under orders. so we have what we call the insider witnesses, members of mladic's main stf that testify about how the military hierarchy works. one of the foremost of those is general milovanovic, who was mladic's deputy commander. >> in mladic's absence, when you're serving in the capacity

of depy commander, did you have the authority to issue an order to anyone in the vrs? >> milovanovic: >> was there any period of time which in your view the coidanding control structure not function as intended? >> good morning, mr. nikolic. momir nikolic is a very rare witness. he's a guy that s pled guilty to very serious crimes in srebrenica, been sentenced to

20 years in prison. he has absolute inside information, orders from his superiors to find places to execute people and directly implicating mladic. >> nikolic: >> mr. nikolic, i would like to ask you how you feel about having participated in these events.

>> i've been in trial for notnd just this yearast year, but all the previous years. it feels like i've been in trial for 12 years straight. the one thing that i feel is exhaustion. this week in court i have recalled a particularly gruesome account of a serbian commander that said, "today we liquidated a young man who was in the woods without any food" and then that's when i visualize this hungry kid without a weapon getting captured, telling his story, and then being horribly killed. then it stopped me from asking

any more questions for a. seco it was like... it was getting to me, and that's, you know that's not supposed to happen. i've gotta be involved, t i've gotta stay at enough distance that i can get the job done and not gettalled in the middle of it. >> stojanovic: >> kenjic: >> stojanovic: >> kenjic: >> stojanovic:

>> narrator: the defense not dispute that killings took mlace in the srebrenica area. but they say thaic did not order them and was not technically in command of his troops at the time. >> mr. kenjic was called to confirm the alibi that explains that movements of general mladic from 14th of july until 17th of july 1995 while

srebreca killings happened, and through this witness we want to, among otr things, prove and explain that general mladic has nothing to do with those killings. ♪ mr. kenjic drove mr. mladic from srebrenica to belade on the 14th. we have meetings that he had with internationals, we have his visit to his daughter's grave on the 15th. we have 16th wedding, visit to military medical academy, and we have his return to the 17th. mr. mladic did not have an means of communication. he was outside therea and by serbian military law at that time, he was n in command. i'm 100 percent sure that there is nothing that can touch that alibi.

>> stojanovic: >> kenjic: >> thank you, mr. stojanovic.. njic, you will now be cross-examined by mr. mccloskey. >> good morng, mr. kenjic.

>> as you sit here now, do you remember on that day afternoon of 14 july, which route you actually took? >> kenjic: >> were you aware at the timerg numbers of muslim soldiers and civilians were flehe srebrenica enclave and it crossed that road and were still in those woods all around that area where you're iving? >> kenjic: a you drove past the nova kasaba area, did you see any large pits being dug near the side of the road?

>> kenjic: >> at the time that you were in konjevic polje with general mladic, did you hear anyat information here were hundreds and hundreds of dead med dying muslims at the kravica warehouse at that en >>c: >> so, did you have any information about the other prisoners, roughly 800o a thousand at the nearby pitkovic school, the nearby rocevic school, thtca cultural center and the kula ol? did you hear about any of those thousands of prisoners that were in thosechools at the time you're driving by that area? >> kenjic:

>> nothing further, mr. president. >> thank you. >> (sighs) the evidence suggests that mladic is up to his chin in blood. two hours after leaving the people near kravica, a thousand people are murdered and with two to three days of leaving thr people along tt of the road at nova kasaba, they're all murdered. so, he... by his forces, by foes under his command in very organized and systemic way that could have only been done when... from orders issued from the top. it wasn't anyone else's troops that did this. >> kenjic:

(sighs)

>> war has torn this country apart. towns, neighborhoods, even families are divided by hatred. >> to bee wrong side of the ethnic frontline in bosnia is a terrifying experience,r whoeu are. these people are serbs fleeing, they say, for their lives. they said they wanted to escape to friendly territory because serbs in village near them had been massacred by muslim troops. >> today, hundreds of serbs attended a funeral for 39 of their men and women in a villag seizedthe muslims earlier this year, and recaptured by the serbs last week... ♪ >> mladic:

♪ (indistincchatter) >> woman: (applause) >> darko mladic:

(applause) (traditional music playing)

>> man: (explosion) (crowd cheering, singing) >> man: >> bosa mladic:

>> dar mladic: >> bosa mladic: >> man: >> bosa mladic: >> man: (laughter) >> for me he's a hero probably because he's my dad. even for small tngs in life, he was so dedicated that you should do somethg right, and never lie. he despised lies.s he alwld me, "you should tell me the truth and nevertless how difficult the truth is because if you lie to me, i will not know how to

help you." maybe we had different temperament. i'm more calm th he is. he is a very good person, but he can explode, he can burst. o but the valuesnly declare are his values. ♪ i'm sorry for every victim but i cannot accept his guilt. i cannot accept what i don't believe is true.t, if i believehen i would accept it. but i can't accept because the other si has a need for me to do it. >> narrator: back in the hague, prosecutors are continuing to build their case, as they await the judges' decision owhether to allow the evidence from the tomasica mass grave. >> the big news obviously in the

last month, we've gotten all the expert reports in. doctor clarke has found 96 percent of these bodies had gunshot injuries, and 80... i think it's 84 percent, the cause of death was actually due to a gunshot wound to the head or to the trunk of the body, which is e'gher than any mass grave seen. so it's a very compelling report for us in terms of showing what the cause of death was, and showing the violentf naturee deaths here. >> we came back with very interesting cumentation... >> it's always kind of an uncertain task when you set out to investigate in the ddle of your case. so it's very satisfying that is evidence is coming back to demand justice from mladic, you know he, he participated in burying them, he thought they would never be found and here we are. the industrial nature tomasica really adds a new dimension of proof to our case with respect to genocide.

♪ >> narrator:uring a break in the excavation of the tomasica mass grave, the president of thtribunal comes to pay hi respects. >> thank you all for being her with me today on this somber day. it is very difficult for me to speak at this place where everyone stands face to face with the horror that man can do to other m. it is my very strong hthat the work of the tribunal will offer some measure of consolation to those who have

survived, and to the families of those who did not survive. more badly, i hope the work of international courts will promote reconciliation and healing in the region. but may i add one personal word-- this place has a very, very speal resonance for me personally because it looks a little bit like the place in a quarry not far from a ty where i spent my war years, in a city called czestochowa in , where my mother was killed. (interpreter speaking localge langua and so this means more to me than the order of international law. >> my name is satko mujacic, i was in the former camp omarska, and actually it's due to me and some other people that mr. meron is here. we actually met him on the 28

october in the hague and during this meeting i invited him to visit tomasica. i even said, "you should smellno de." if mr. meron and hisolleagues would call it with the name it deserves, genocide, then i hope that somehow for victims it will be what we expect. we really need justice to be done. let's just see the facts. ♪ >> magda, start at 9:30 or 10:00? >> 9:30. >> 9:30 is your speech. >> well, we've put you in the second row >> that's fine. >> because... >> that's fine. >> yeah, so on display i afraid. >> yes, but on the side.

>> yes, it's on the side with easy access so you can go and... >> exit strategy. >> no. we don't want an exit strategy. >> narrator: the president is in sarajevo to give the keynote speech at a conference to mark the tribunal's 20th anniversary. however, the tribunal has recently acquitted several high-ranking figures, and this has angered many vtims groups. >> se people, naturally, som of the victims, would not always be happy about each and every one of our judgments. i'm very sad if there judgment from time to time, when people are unhappy. (chattering) but if our agenda would be tose pleople, we would not be a court of law, would we? (crowd chattering, person coughing) >> woman:

>> woman: >> woman: >> we thank you for your questions. i am surprised that i have the question, how did i el aboutin fe of victims in tomasica?kn you want t what i have felt? i felt total empathy. i felt the grief that you have

felt. i realize that we have not satisfied the victims. perhaps it is a mission impossible. perhaps no international criminal tribunal can satisfy all the victims from all the different communities. but, please, looat the picture as a whole. let not two or three acquittals, about which you aren't happy,ta you away from the whole vision of incredible achiements which have been made. our job is not yet done and i'm sure te day, even the greatest critics of the tribunal will join with me in seeing the positive.

>> it's a real joke to ask from us, to be prepared. it's not possible. simply not possible.'s and . i don't think it's good example for any kind of justice, let alone international justice. we probably need at least as many lawyers as the prosecution has. we need as many investigators. we have only a couple of them and the prosecution has the whole system. it is a real fight in between david and goliath. >> nartor: the defense will now try to argue that mladic'ser troops wnot even present at tomasica but they need witnesses to make their case.

>> grujicic: >> lukic: >> grujicic:

>> lukic: >> grujicic: >> cheers. >> cheers. >> lukic: >> grujicic:

>> that's exactly what i was afraid of before... before we came here,we might have many good talks butwi noesses. my humble opinion is that at this moment bosnia does not need shows for public as tomasica because it's just a show andon it's just prtion of bosnian agony. we should ry our dead and we should move forward, and having wounds reopened all the time cannot help reconciliation. these are killing fields.

>> in-in world war ii? >> yes, yes. (birds chirping) to understand bosnia, its conflicts from '90 you have to know what happened during the world war, the second. if you do not understand jasenovac, where we are here y no cannot understand the conflict in bosnia. >> narrator: during world war w ii, yugoslaviaas occupiedis by the nazand serbs were put in concentration camps. the nazis were supported by croatian fascists and somehe muslims sympatc to the fascist cause. now, years later, the defense

is trying to argue that the historic persecution of the serbs should be coidered in the case againstladic. t every single family loss member due to that genocide committed against serbian. people an eye for an eye is not allowed as a defen in front of this tribunal. but there was revenge, and you could not control everybody who was armed during t war. so it was not something that you could blame generamladic and to blame serbian leadership that it was organized. tomasica can be excellent exampl actually, of revenge. it can be excellent example of continuati, this bosnian bloody story.ta it happens cly in this area, and it happened before, and i'm raid that it could happen in the future. i hope not.

let there be no doubt that serbs inosnia-herzegovina had to defend themselves for their very survival. the bosnian muslims and croats had threatened the survival alrey as part of the nazi forces that terrorized and killed serbs in senovac and other death camps. thus, general mladic cannot be held responsible for the acts ol persons not ing his orders, but engaged in a uncontrollabs of private revenge by locals... >> the defense says th atrocities against the serbs led the serb populace to be full of tred and want to exact revenge on the muslim population. from our perspective, tither absurd defense because of the clear organi and the logistics that went into a huge mass grave.

they were mladic's armed forces, very well organized. so, this kind of evide attracts sympathy to the serbiap cause and peto general mladic, but in the end, it doesn't amount to any kind of ae e. >> welcome, everybody, to the 80th week of the mladic trial. officially, on the record, we are on the 333rd day. in terms of events in the trial... where's ed? there he is. ed filed the tomasica motion last week right on schedule,ry thank you ve much for doing that. >> hello, rebecca, how are you? >> i'm good. >> so, i'm here to turn in my plates. >> yes. >> and then the... >> the papers?s. >> and the p >> let's see if you have everything. just... yeah, that's one. then, if you can, it's tohe

fill out theout form. >> okay. >> narrator: after two-and-a-half years on the mladic trial, dermot groome has to leave the tribunal for family reasons. >> it's difficult to... certainly to leave at this stage in the case.an i've investewful lot in the case, and to seehe tomasica filing without my name on it, it definitely hit me in a way that i didn't expect. it's a bit melancholy, but i guess that's part of, of leavino a position thave loved and have had for a very long mme. >> and perhaps thet significant addition since we've had the last team meeting is a thn tieger is here, and i know alan has a couple of words that will impact the team. >> it's of course my pleasure to be on ard. i simply look forward to working with each one of you. i hope to meet with al it's an extraordinary responsibilitynd professional privilege to lead this team for

this case at this point in the tribunal's existence. my parents were both survivors whse virtually entire famil were murdered during the hocaust. and no... no survivor truly escapes that. so, i could see the, the visible effects of those crimes every day.ee thisng of anger and helplessness and iotence that you grow up with, and i certainly felt that when i met and worked with those victims in prijedor. (m chanting prayer in distance)

>> elvira karagic: >> narrator: elvira karagic's father went missing in july 1992. she is waiting to find out if his remains have been discovered in the tomasica mass grave. >> karagic:

>> mladic is charged wh seven different massacres that took place in about a six-day period in prijedor municipality in late july 1992. more than a thousand people in prijedor went missing during the course of about those six days.s nobody ever been convicted of genocide here for whatappened in 1992. in prijedor or anywhere else.e

this is st trial hearing, so it is the last opportunity. and i think all of us feel some sense of historical obligation to make sure that it's recorded here what happened, and general mladic's responsibility for it. mladic had firm command and control over the vrs and subordinated bosnian serb forces throughout the ethnic cleansing campaignn prijedor municipality, through killing more than 1,500 muslims and detaining thousands more inn brutal and inhconditions. what you see on this next slide is those villages which are most relevant to the cleansing campaign iprijedor. as you see, many of the communities i've just been talking toou about, by 1993, genuinely,iterally, chillingly no longer existed. >> karagic:

(phone beeps) (sighs) ♪

>> mr. hanson, were you called upti to assist in the exhuma at the tomica site in 2013? >> yes, was. >> and did it reveal the presence of graves, and if so, how many? >> yes, three separate graves. >> were you able to determine how much time may have transpired between the deposits of bodies? >> exact timings, no. however, the bodies were very well preserved, and this is consistent with a burial quite soon after death. >> sir, what did you observe as the most frequent cause of death?

>> i found that the vast majority of the people in this gravesithad been shot; a surprisingly high number of shots were to the head. a very common finding was a bullet wound, bullet injurto the back of the head. >> what can you tell us aboutth clothes found on the bodies exhumed from tomasica?th >> the clog was just ordinary clothing. some people had suit jackets, some people had work jackets or dungarees, but it was mostly sort of casual clothes. >> man:

(karagic sighs) >> karagic: >> man: >> karagic: >> man: >> karagic and man: >> man: >> karagic and man: >> man:

>> karagic: >> man: >> karagic: >> when, in a community like prijedor, more than 1,500 pelee rdered in a short time, thousands and thousands more starved, degraded, abused, humiliated, tormented. when most of their homes are destroyed, when their mosques arnreduced to rubble, and w they are scattered to anxi impoverished, the intent d troy that community and prevent it from reconstitutinglf

its unmistakable. and the word for those crimes withhat intent is genocide. (machine beeping)

>> lukic: vi

>> marja >> you had occasion to meet with general mladic in prijedor. answer: no, i never met the general. nver saw him at any meeting that i attended, did i hear from anyone else that he had been in prijedor. >> stojanovic:

>> mr. marjanovic, you'll now bm cross-ed by mr. traldi. mr. traldi is counsel for the prosecution. >> thanks, mr. president. good morning, sir. can we have 65 terr 31041? do you recognize the people in this photograph? >> marjanovic: >> who's the man on the far righlooking away from the camera? >> marjanovic: >> and person immediately to your right hand, with the mustache, who's that? >> marjanovic: >> the man next to him, in the tie? >> marjanovic: >> and the man next to him, on the far left? >> marjanovic: >> all four of you worked at rcr libya before the war right? >> you and mr. balaban were

serbs while mr. paunovic and mro zac were muslims? >> now, mr. paunovic and mr. zahirovic, have you ever seen either of them after the war? >> did he know what was happening in prijedor? yeah, of course. it's very hard to start with 50,000 muslims in your munipality, wind up with six couple of months later-- 6,000-- and then virtually none by the end of the war, and miss that. it's, it's too large a change in

the composition of the people that you interact with every day. and he would have been in downtown prijedor, where he lived, when one of the neighborhoods ere, stary grad, was destroyed by the vrs. he would have been in downtownor prijwhere he lived, when the room three massacre at keraterm occurred. of course, he knew crimes were being committed. yeah, nobody could have missed that. whether he knew about this grave specifically... if he didn't, it would have requir a willful attempt to avoid knowing what was being done on his property and the crimes general mladic and his c forcmitted. now, when you said, sir, the less you knew, the moryou wouldn't worry... you say that because you didn't rynt to know what the mili

and police were doing with mobilized equipment on rcr libya company property, because you knew they were committing crimes. right? >> i have no further questions for this witness.mr >> thank youtraldi. in (cars pa c: >> marjano

♪

♪ >> the evidencof genocide presented in this courtroom for the last four-and-a-half years was clear, comprehensive, and unassailable.e we hadic in the dock answering for his crimes. ♪ >> history will judge if justice was done and seen to be done. the defense does not deny that unfortunate crim occurred, but

those in no way can be connected to general ratko mlac. ♪ >> there is no credible evidence linking general mladic's presence to any of thelleged killing or execution sites. we should all agree that he sits here innocent bere us right now. >> the time has come for general mladic to be held accountable for those crimes against each of his victims and the communities he dtroyed. it would be an affront to justice to impose any sentence other an the most severe available under law.

♪ >> mladic: ♪

>> narrator: the prosecution and the defense finished presenting their evidence in december 2016. the court had sat for 530 trial days and heard from nearly 600 witnesses over four-and-a-half years. the judges took months to reach a verdict. >> we're returning now to the trial... >> we're back live now in the hague,he united nations war crimes... >> an international war crimes court in the hag is delivering its verdict... >> you're watching continuous coverage of the verdict in the trial of ratko mladic... >> just to remind you that general ratko mladic hskedba for room break, effectively, about 35 minutes ago. >> we're still trying to assess exactly what is going on here. we assume this is just a temporary pause... ia the n1, the bosnian, bo tv reported that apparently he had some medical issues. so, they are doing the medical check-up. >> if he has a medical thingno it's not a coincidence, is

it? >>e turned red in his face you know? usually when he turn red in his face, this is the sign that hisl d pressure is high, and for him, this is a life-threatening situation. >> okay, the medical officer wanted to speak to theio cagist, but now it seems like we're going to be resuming. >> mr. mladic's blood pressure was read three times during the break.in the first re i believe, is 175 over 96. the second reading done by a nurse was 180 over 80. according to both the american heart association and the united kingdom cardiovascular association, that is cald hypertensive crisis. under thoscircumstances, the defense asks that your honors either halt these proceedingsre or we waiving of the summary and pronounce your judgment so that we can lessen

the risk of further harm to mr. mladic's health. mr. ivetic, the doctor's advice we got is that the situation is not such that medical reasons would prevent us from continuin mr. mladic wants to consult with counsel, iake it. if he does it in such a way that no one can hear your voice, and sit down, please. >> mladic: >> mr. mladic, sit... mr. mladic, sit... mr. mladic, if you... >> curtains down. mr. mladic will be removed from the courtroom. >> okay, it goes on. ad >> narrator: with watching the proceedings from a holding cell, the judges prepare to give their verdiche 11 counts against him. they begin with count one,

genocide in prijedor and the other municipalies, and count two, genocide in srebrenica. >> the chamber finds ratko mladic not guilty of count one, genocide. guilty as a member of various joint criminal enterprises of the following counts: count two, srebrenica genocide; count ree, persecution, a crime againshumanity.fo coun, extermination... >> and the judgment, the verdict in the case of ratko mladic, the former general of the bosnian serb forces, has just been handed down. he was found guilty of ten of the 11 charges against him. on one charge of genocide, heno was founguilty. >>arrator: while the court jeled that mladic was not guilty of genocide in pr and

the other municipalities, it did find him guilty of ethnic cleansing there, and determined that his troops had been present at tomasica. >> the crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity for having committed these crimes, the chamr sentences mr. ratko mladic to life imprisonment. (murmuring) (people talking softly) (clamoring) >> well done.

>> well, guys let'be happy for a moment. i think that's a great result and a great team effort. >> the word "life" keeps resonating in my head, and had there been anything but that,wo d have been very, you know, very angry. >> but i, you kn... >> after an amazing long road to hear that word, "life".. >> life sentence, life. >> yeah, that tells the whole story. now i'm ready to quibble about the... (all laughing) aboucount one. the way i understood it, it was just substantiality away from a genocide finding. they didn't find that it met all the legal elements for genocide, but they recognized the effect of the ethnic cleansing campaign in prijedor. >> guys, many, many thanks. we are the winning team. >> the defense team considers this judgment to be erroneous and there will be an appeal, and we believe that the appeal will correct rors of the trial chamber.

>> we saw each other five tor ten minutes afe verdict. my father, he said this is all a lie.th so, we refus sentence. this is great injustice done to serbian peoplee first place, and my father was a mbol of this fight for t freedom of serbian people. >> to this day, not a single serbian victim was protected, nobody was ever accused of it, and you are asking serbs whether they aept this tribunal as impartial. no, they don't. they will never do so. >> over the last couple of hours, we heard a detailed reassessment of the evidence deat had been heard inside this court behind me, ence which t es magnified the brutality of some of general ratko mladic's crimes.

♪ >> mladic's crimes have now been recorded in history. during his trial, the court heard from 4,500 peoe who bore witness to the killin he ordered. it took a quarter of a centuryic for their vo to be heard, for their de to receive some justice. in so, what do you how do you feel... >> i am very happy now. >> is it over? >> not really. i'm happy. >> is it justice? >> yes.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> go to pbs.org/frontline, for more reporting on ratko mladic and the war in bosnia. >> this case involves two horrendous crimes, all amounting to the elimination of the muslim population from srebrenica and genocide. >> then visit our watch page where you can see more than 200 "frontline" documentaries.co nnect to the "frontline" community on facebook and twitter. then sign up for our newsletter at pbs.org/frontline. >> i put my life on the line. my country won't let my husband live here. >> it's difficult to live without my family.ro >> you can't. i don't want to take that chance.

w many hoops do you have to jump through for your family tbe together? >> you have done everything. >> i refuse to say that cause he's not here. >> i love you elizabeth.ma >> i love yorcos. >> a special presentation from "frontline", independent lense, and voces >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the , hn d. and catherine t. macarthur foundatimmitted to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. ditional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening publici awareness ofcal issues. the john and helen glessner family trust.pp ting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. iothe heising-simons found unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. and by the frontle journalism fund,

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♪ you're watching pbs. ♪ ♪ -you've said you'daxavor middle-classuts. -the front line isust up here. that's where the river... -she took me out to those wetlands. -i think we're to a great start. ♪

>> as a young publ defender, i remember this case when i was in court and i was representg a young father. and heas a single dad taking care of both of his kids and supporti them. he was charged with drug possession and charged with violating his probation. and the judge found that he violated his probation the probation department recommended just that he do some community service. but the judge wanted to send a message, ande threw the book at him and sentenced him to two years in prison.d told the judge that he had two young children. and the judge looked at me and said, "call the orphanage." i'll never forget that. and my client took his car keys and he threw them to me d he said, "can you pick up my kids