A UN panel of experts said in a report released [JURIST report] last month that the parties on both sides may have committed war crimes during the final stages of the 26-year civil war between the Sri Lankan government and rebel LTTE forces. The Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs [official website] announced in December that the three-person panel would be allowed to visit [JURIST report] the island to investigate alleged war crimes. The decision represented a reversal after months of strong opposition [JURIST report] from the Sri Lankan government under President Mahinda Rajapaksa [official profile], who described the UN panel as an infringement on Sri Lanka's sovereignty. Rajapaksa instead appointed the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to investigate the final years of the conflict from the ceasefire in 2002 to its conclusion in 2009. The LLRC's credibility, however, has been contested by several human rights organizations, which contend that the commission lacks objectivity [PTI report]. The government has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces violated international law during the conflict.

Mladic was one of the two remaining at-large war criminals sought by the ICTY, along with Goran Hadzic. Mladic faces charges [amended indictment, PDF] of genocide and crimes against humanity, including murder, political persecution, forcible transfer and deportations, cruel treatment and the taking of peacekeepers as hostages. He is most infamous for ordering the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the massacre of Srebrenica during the Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archives]. In December, the First Municipal Court in Belgrade acquitted 10 men [JURIST report] suspected of helping Mladic evade arrest. In September, ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz [official profile] called on Serbia and other governments [JURIST report] to increase efforts to find and arrest Mladic. Last May, Mladic's family filed a claim in the Belgrade District Court seeking to have him declared officially dead [JURIST report] in order to collect his state pension and sell his property. The ICTY announced earlier that month that the Office of the Prosecutor filed a motion to amend the indictment against Mladic [JURIST report] to include 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in order to help speed up court proceedings.