Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic, accused of genocide, in 1991-1995 wars in former Yugoslavia and sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, would receive the final verdict by the end of 2020, Carmel Agius, the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT) in The Hague, in his regular six-month report to the UN, the Beta news agency reported on Wednesday.

 Besides of the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995, Mladic was convicted of persecuting Muslims and Croats in Bosnia, shelling and sniping civilians in Sarajevo and taking the UN peacekeepers hostage.

His defense appealed the first instance verdict. The prosecutors also appealed because Mladic was found not guilty of the genocide in six more Bosnia’s municipalities.

The ex International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia ruled that the genocide was committed only in Srebrenica.

Speaking at the UN Security Council session in New York, The Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz condemned the denial of war crimes and the celebration of war criminals across former Yugoslavia.

He said the politicians in the region “don’t win votes by promising reconciliation or building the bridges toward other communities.”

“Instead, the politicians believe they will win the election by denying the misdeeds and praising the responsible. Some promote the historical revisionism, while the others try to gain votes by honoring, instead of condemning, war criminals,” Brammertz warned.