(16 May 2012) The first day of the long-awaited war crimes trial against former Bosnian general Ratko Mladic wrapped up in the Hague on Wednesday.
Mladic is accused of commanding troops in a campaign of murder and persecution to drive Muslims and Croats out of territory that he and his troops considered part of Serbia.
He's also accused of repeatedly shelling the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and butchering eight thousand Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica enclave in July 2005.
Srebrenica alone is regarded as Europe's worst massacre since World War II.
Prosecutors say they will use evidence from more than 400 witnesses, though very few of them will testify in court.
Much of their evidence already has been heard in other cases and will be admitted in the form of written statements.
The first witness is scheduled to start testifying May 29, but Presiding Judge Alphons Orie of the Netherlands hinted that he may postpone the case because prosecutors have not disclosed all evidence to Mladic's defence.
"We would raise that issue every time that we are not prepared. If we had received enough time to prepare for the witnesses - and that's all we ask for from the chambers, to follow the rules, then of course it will be much easier for us," Mladic's lawyer Branko Lukic said outside the court on Wednesday.
For their part the prosecution hailed the trial's opening.
"It will continue tomorrow with the continuation of the presentation of the opening statement. So from our side we worked hard on this, we're happy that the case has finally started and we're ready to move on," Frederick Swinnen, special advisor to the prosecution, said.
Mladic fled into hiding after the war and spent 15 years as a fugitive before international pressure on Serbia led to his arrest last year.
Now he is held in a one-man cell in a special international wing of a Dutch jail and receiving food and medical care that would likely be the envy of many in Bosnia.
But the fact that he is jailed and on trial is another victory for international justice and hailed by observers, the relatives of the victims of his alleged crimes say they want more.
"Today we heard what we already knew. He killed twenty thousand Muslims of which the remains of some we are still looking for," said Ziada Avdibegovic outside the court.
Avdibegovic's son Elvedin is one of thousands still missing after the end of the conflict.
She was part of a small but visible group of Bosnian protesters who held a rally outside the court.
Twenty years after the war that left 100-thousand dead, Bosnia remains divided into two mini-states, one for Serbs, the other shared by Bosnian Muslims and Croats, linked by a central government.
"I pray to God that he lives through this trial and faces the verdict in a good condition. It would be a spiritual satisfaction for us the families who are waiting for this verdict," said Munira Avdic, another relative of a missing Bosnian war victim.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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