Ratko Mladić Genocidal Intent Documents

In 2012, a team of researchers from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), supervised by Predrag Dojčinović and senior trial attorneys, undertook a special project defined within the scope of two genocide charges (see Fourth Amended Indictment.pdf, dated December 16, 2011) against the Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić (ICTY, Case No. IT-09-92) in the last trial to be held before this tribunal in The Hague.

The project’s principal objective was to identify all available direct and indirect evidence of ‘genocidal intent’ (also known as ‘specific intent’ or dolus specialis), captured in this requisite element of genocidal mens rea (‘guilty mind’) emerging from the utterances and speech acts of Ratko Mladić and other members of the joint criminal enterprise (JCE). The search for the manifestations of ‘genocidal intent’ focused entirely on the place of its conception: the mind of the speaker and language as the main instrument of communication. Built on the contextually, cognitively and legally defined selection of key words and phrases, the project resulted in the creation of an internal OTP database with a comprehensively catalogued lexicon of relevant utterances and speech acts (see search criteria in The Lexicon of Genocidal Intent in the Trial of Ratko Mladić). As a roadmap to Mladić’s and other JCE members’ genocidal mens rea, this unique body of evidence was utilized by the Prosecution’s trial team through the examination and cross-examination of witnesses, oral and written submissions, and the Prosecution’s Final Trial Brief. The relevant exhibits, submissions and witness testimonies were assessed and adjudicated by the Mladić Trial Chamber in the series of decisions and, ultimately, the Trial Judgment of November 22, 2017.