Conviction of 'Butcher of Bosnia'

The conviction of Ratko Mladic, the notorious Serb military commander known as 'Butcher of Bosnia', of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating Europe's worst atrocity since World War II is a triumph of justice. The ruling shows that justice will eventually prevail and spare no one, no matter how politically powerful the criminals are. We commend the UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for the milestone ruling.

Mladic's most atrocious misdeeds include the Srebrenica massacre, in which forces under his direct command slaughtered thousands of Muslims, and the siege of Sarajevo, which killed more than 10,000 civilians.

True, it took more than two decades to see the end of justice. And the ruling may not assuage the tremendous pain and sufferings of family members of the victims of the massacres. No other nation, more than the people of Bangladesh can relate easily to the pain and sufferings of the people of Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina, since we had also gone through similar agony.

Incidentally, the same day Ratko Mladic was awarded life sentence in The Hague, Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal condemned six local collaborators of the Pakistani army to death for their involvement in massacres during the War of Liberation. It is another reminder that those who commit genocide and crimes against humanity can, and will be, brought to book, if there is will and determination, no matter how long it takes.

We believe the ruling by the tribunal will pave the way for many injustices, committed in the past and being committed now, to be redressed. Those who are committing crimes against humanity like in Myanmar and Syria should take note that they are putting themselves up as candidates to be tried as war criminals.