A brutal military leader who called himself 'God'

He called himself “God”, but General Ratko Mladic is not a god Christians would be familiar with.

After 16 years on the run, the brutal military commander has finally been caught and faces a trial for war crime.

While the Bosnian Serb commander may have considered himself “God”, his other nickname, “the butcher of Bosnia”, bears closer resemblance to his ruthless character.

He personally oversaw one of the worst massacres in Europe since the Holocaust when his forces slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.

To Mladic, the war in Bosnia was an opportunity to seek revenge for 500 years of Turkish-Ottoman occupation and he branded all Bosnian Muslims as Turks.

His ultimate goal was an ethnically pure homeland for Bosnian Serbs and he was prepared to go to extraordinarily brutal lengths to accomplish it.

Mladic went into hiding after he was indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.

They include ordering the Srebrenica massacre and overseeing a 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 people died.

His capture and arrest on Thursday at the home of a relative in the Serbian village of Lazarevo brings some closure to the painful legacy left behind by the civil war of the 1990s.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said: “We have ended a difficult period in our history and removed the stain from the face of Serbia and the members of our nation wherever they live.”

Gerrit Wiersema, Office Manager of Eastern European Outreach UK, was uncertain about the impact of the general's arrest on the region.

He said: "For some people, his arrest will be incredibly helpful. For some people, there will be closure. But realistically, I'm not certain a lot will change in the country as he has been out of power for so many years."

Gill Rowell, Director of Novi Most, a charity helping to build reconciliation in the region, welcomed Mladic's arrest but also expressed concerns about the toll of a trial on witnesses.

"It is fantastic that he has been arrested. Justice had to be done," she said.

"He's destroyed so many lives, not just those of the people who were murdered, but their relatives who are still living.

"We've been praying for this for years and so for that, we thank God for answered prayers.

"But my concern is that if he stands trial, all the witnesses will have to go through the trauma again and I don't know if that does bring closure."

She conceded that his arrest was probably a political move to bring Serbia closer to entering the EU, but said it was "healthy" nonetheless that Serbian leaders have spoken of their support for his arrest and trial.

"In the long term, his arrest has got to make a difference," she continued.

"Once he's tried and convicted, there will be a sense of looking forward."