ICTY Trial Chamber Rejects Ratko Mladić’s Request for Acquittal (April 15, 2014) [1]
On April 15, 2014, Trial Chamber I of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (the Tribunal) dismissed the defense request for acquittal in the Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić case. Ratko Mladić is the former Commander of the VRS Main Staff and is charged with genocide and other crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 1992 to late 1995. He had requested acquittal on two counts of genocide and various other charges . According to the press release [3], the Tribunal also rejected “arguments relating to the Accused’s command responsibility for the crimes committed by groups other than the [Bosnian Serb Army (VRS)].” The Trial Chamber delivered its ruling orally [4] (summary only) and pursuant to Rule 98 bis of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence [5], which states that “[a]t the close of the Prosecutor’s case, the Trial Chamber shall, by oral decision and after hearing the oral submissions of the parties, enter a judgement of acquittal on any count if there is no evidence capable of supporting a conviction.”