THE LAST ICTY TRIAL: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RATKO MLADIC TRIAL AND THE STRUGGLE TO REACH A GUILTY VERDICT FOR PERPETRATORS OF GENOCIDE

The international legal community's definition of genocide is stringent and inhibits convictions of genocide. The definition of genocide established by the 1948 Geneva Conventions has three significant elements for conviction: intent to destroy, proportion of victims killed, and protected groups of people. In this article, the author argues that this definition is too restrictive in its application. Some of the specific crimes of the Bosnian Genocide in the 1990s do not qualify as genocide according to the Geneva Convention. This definition has three significant restrictions: 1) the perpetrators must have the intent to destroy a group of people or have the knowledge that their actions could destroy a group; 2) the number of people killed must be a substantial number compared to the amount available of a qualifying group; 3) the definition does not consider a political group as a protected group. This article analyses the genocide conviction of Ratko Mladic, the primary perpetrator of the 1995 Bosnian Genocide, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This article examines Mladic's ICTY trial and how the Court interpreted each element. In the end, it concludes, despite the correct ultimate decision by the ICTY, that the international legal community's definition of genocide is flawed and prevents some genocide victims from receiving justice.