On May 19, 2014, Trial Chamber I of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia began hearing the defense case in Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić. According to news reports, the first witness called by Ratko Mladić was Mile Sladoje, a former assistant commander of a Serb battalion in Sarajevo, who “denie[d] ever being ordered by Mr Mladic to target civilians in a sniping campaign during the three-year siege of the city in which approximately 10,000 people were killed - most of them Muslims.” Mr. Mladić is the former Commander of the Army of Republika Srspka Main Staff and is charged with genocide and other crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 1992 to late 1995.