The trial of Ratko Mladic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia shows once again that it is possible to have justice without reconciliation

In May, the main hearings of the trial of the accused war criminal, Ratko Mladic, began in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Denisa Kostovicova argues that the narrow perpetrator-centred approach of the ICTY means that the role and complicity of specific groups in war crimes is not debated. However, the on-going scrutiny of official authorities’ rhetoric and policies by local liberal civil society groups provides some reasons for hope.