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UN war crimes judges have found former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic guilty of genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said in reading out a summary of the judgment, said: “the crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to humankind, and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity,”

During the reading of the judgment, Mladic was removed from the courtroom when he start shouting at the judges that they were lying.

Orie ordered him removed from the courtroom just after refusing a defence request to halt the proceedings due to Mladic’s high blood pressure.

“They are lying, you are lying. I don’t feel good,” Mladic shouted, before being hustled out of the courtroom by two UN security guards.

Judges said Mladic “significantly contributed” to war crimes committed at Srebrenica where is accused of ordering the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Judges also said Mladic was a member of a “joint criminal enterprise” intending to purge non-Serbs in Bosnia and was “instrumental’ in war crimes in Sarajevo and “personally” directed shelling of the city.

He faced two counts of genocide and nine of war crimes and crimes against humanity

Prosecutors demanded a life sentence for the 74-year-old, who was the Serb army commander in Bosnia’s 1992 to 1995 war.

He was charged with crimes against humanity over the siege of Sarajevo in which 11,000 civilians died from shelling and sniper fire.

The Srebrenica slaughter was Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.

The verdict had been delayed earlier while Mladic underwent a blood pressure test, his son Darko said.

Judges had ordered a five-minute bathroom break for Mladic, before issuing their verdict.

That pause then stretched on for more than an hour.

“They took his blood pressure during the break. We don’t know the readings, but they said they could continue with the verdict.

“We are very concerned about his blood pressure because he has already has four strokes,” Darko Mladic said.

Mladic pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges against him and is expected to appeal if convicted.

Srebrenica, near Bosnia’s eastern border with Serbia, had been designated a “safe area” by the United Nations.

It was defended by lightly armed UN peacekeepers, who quickly surrendered when Mladic’s forces stormed it on July 11, 1995.

NAN

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