Taking of hostages is a violation of the laws or customs of war. In determining the appropriate sentence to be imposed the chamber has taken into account the gravity of the crimes of which he has been found guilty of crimes committed rangar among the most heinous known to human kind and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity. As mitigating factors it defense referred to various circumstances including the then overland treatment by mr millard it off and assistance to some victims has good character and his diminished mental capacity. Poor physical health and advanced age. For reasons set out and a judgment the chamber considers that most of the factors raised in mitigation by the defense curry little or no weight. For having committed these crimes the chamber censuses mr h. To life imprisonment discomfited delivery of the judgment the chamber stands the judge. So there we have it at the end of a very long complicated almost theatrical at points Legal Process at the court in the hague we found out the sentence is life in prison you may be thinking that you misheard the beginning of what the judge was saying there but in effect we can fast forward through that doubt for you hes been found guilty of and convicted on ten of eleven counts of war crimes crimes against humanity including genocide they did talk about that themselves when the war was at its height in the early one nine hundred ninety s. They refer to it as ethnic cleansing and they judge the course referring to it in terms of genocide they you can see Bosnian Muslims reacting to that news in srebrenica our correspondent david is there making the point that. Where eight thousand Bosnian Muslims were killed in the hill surrounding. The cant own as the area in effect that part of bosnia was frozen in time when the war ended in one thousand nine hundred ninety two. Well stay with these pictures and well talk to david cheater right now david were seeing the reaction. Obviously a highly charged atmosphere there as people begin the process of digesting and i guess accepting what the u. N. Court has just said. Yes the the mothers of the victims of reacted very strongly here in the to middle of this large memorial and cemetery for the victims of the genocide here in separately a genocide. Was guilty of hes got a life sentence thats exactly what the mothers here and many other people in the communities around this area wanted to see they wanted their revenge to be Justice Justice has come up with the sentence they wanted and found him guilty of genocide extermination. The list is extensive and very brutal the one count was he was found not guilty of the first count of genocide but essentially the court has delivered exactly what they wanted they felt in this area which was posed to be a safe haven at the time protected by the United Nations troops they were deserted by the International Community theres even a plaque on the un base which is just across the road from this cemetery where it says this was caused by the failure of the International Community now the International Community and a system of justice in the hague has at last delivered a verdict but they always thought it must its taken so long its taken so long and still so many of these people have not been reunited with the loved ones who were forced from their houses by the bosnian serb troops under the command of not each he was here on the road directing the troops directing them to do those as brutal acts including my. Rape and shooting of boys and men the horrific images that weve seen now even though we see them on camera you can imagine what its like to live with those memories theyve already got that life sentence and so this was the least the International Community could have done they said to give them justice at last but in the end of course you can really say that this is closure for them and this is some sort of catharsis those are really shallow psychological words there is no way you can resolve what happened to these people and the suffering theyve gone through theyll take their own suffering to their own graves but at least they now can say and hold each other and cry once again and say that no laddish at least has got his just deserts so many of them wanted to see him brought here and shot in front of a firing squad but theyve come down they wanted to see justice take its course its taken an awful long time but we must always remember those families who live very near by here at the moment whove never been reunited with their lost ones bones are still being dug up. All around these hills under the forest canopy that is still going on one thousand people are still missing more than eight thousand muslim boys and men were killed brutally brutally effectively and deliberately under the orders of the lad age so the world has now seen a verdict they have got ive had their day in court its taken so long theres been so much suffering but the point is just down the road here theres a theres a serbian town now they have ignored it they seem as their hero we dont know if theyll be any counterdemonstrations but they see him as a hero of the war they dont even discuss the name genocide they ignored exactly what happened they called the Court Political and that just illustrates peter the ways. There is no peace in this this valley surrounded around this huge graveyard behind me there is no peace at all the conflict is frozen its still there theres still bitter enmities and divides in all areas around this this extraordinary killing field that happened way back in one thousand nine hundred five it is still unresolved but at least one court case and not each guilty of genocide so with that at least they can go back to their homes with force from then and rest more easily but again its just a step so many memories of those days when they were forced from their homes and their loved ones were taken from them interesting choice of words there david on your part the killing field its worth restating now that we know what the sentence is that this was the worst act of genocide since the events of World War Two and and also not wishing to oversimplify the pictures of the women theyre reacting but the reason were looking at pictures of women reacting is because these people didnt just go after Bosnian Muslims they went after grandfathers fathers young men in their twentys teenagers in their late teenage years they were going after it was gender specific they were very clearly going after young men and older men. Yes without a doubt the Court Discusses a great length and with the detail judgement and i think we would all be grateful for that detail judgment because there is no room for. Make blurring any of these hugely important issues for europe and for the moral values that are at the core of what should be the European Union this was a case where they absolutely knew what they were doing they wanted to destroy exterminate the Bosnian Muslim community in this valley in the area of a separate meter and the court laid it made a very very clear they look to that evidence very very clearly and from all the statements that laddish himself made one of which you saw earlier in one of my packages where he said to the local muslim leader when he came in and talked to him he said you you either you either cooperate with me or your people vanish this is a phrase he used time and time again hes wrong hes quoted its on record its official Everybody Knows now theres no single doubt about it that this was an ethnic cleansing operation a deliberate attempt to reunites this area having cleanse it of the Bosnian Muslim community with serbia itself no doubt about what that intention was and how he carried it out. David thanks very much with you just joining us here on aljazeera lets just refresh this big breaking story that weve had this. The former bosnian serb military commander has been found guilty on ten of eleven counts ranging from genocide to crimes against humanity and murder lets take you live to the hague my colleague neve barker neve lets just rewind by ten minutes or so whats the court been saying. Well it has been a very lengthy proceeding it started of course with the judge summing up all of the eleven. Counts that mullard it faced in the last ten minutes or so the judge has now come to deliver a verdict on each of these accounts the first count of genocide a not guilty verdict was followed by guilty verdict for genocide the second count a multiple guilty verdicts on counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder what weve seen in the last few minutes kind of emotional scenes here people who have been inside the court including some of the representatives of the mothers of srebrenica the david have been talking about eventually come out of the court some of them in tears its been a long twenty two year wait since the end of the war in the former yugoslavia for justice this is one of the last major trials to take place here at the International Criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia before it wraps up proceedings at the end of december for the court here very much feels a guilty verdict was necessary and there are a life sentence was the only sentence that should be given given the seriousness of his crimes described as some of the most heinous acts of criminality since the Second World War would it be too easy perhaps nice to see this is turning a page on a very dark chapter in recent european history i mean youve got the three bad people from what happened in bosnia and theyve been held to account Slobodan Milosevic ok he died Carla Del Ponte had very specific views about that in terms of not being able to prosecute the case we also saw rather than carriage he was found living in disguise in serbia and now today. As well. I think many of the people here would yes assume that justice has been done on this occasion of course just to remind you right around cottage was sentenced to forty years for genocide last year hes the former bosnian serb leader Slobodan Milosevic narrowly escaped hearing his verdict because he died back in two thousand and six before a verdict could be given. Another key serbian nationalists was acquitted last year but i think its also important to remember that ultra nationalism serbian ultra nationalism and political views that are somewhat extreme to say the least are still very much present in the former yugoslavia the fact that not it could ever aid capture for sixteen years sheltered by his supporters is a sign that perhaps many of these attitudes have not really gone away they remain there stifled perhaps by the changing Political Climate in recent year with three years with the rise of independent states that have gone on to flourish postwar but still what happens to the beliefs the choir beliefs that the hardline attitude will they have a go away thats the big question this year to be asked and yet to be answered it was a compelling couple of hours there in the courtroom behind you need were going to play those pictures of the outburst from. Which ended with the court being suspended and the charges in effect its checked ing him from the courtroom just to nail this down from a legal point of view need is this is it i mean is there any other Legal Recourse could there be an appeal and assuming for a second there isnt where does he go now. But id like to be able to answer the question on appeal in theory yes it is possible we know that there are two more. Cases to be dealt with here cases of contempt of court. Before the tribunals wraps up at the end of the year will that if there is any kind of attempt to appeal this verdict will that mean that that deadline gets pushed by these details that really need to to be ironed out was being taken away from them here though the end of the summing up and the delivery of this verdict is that this very much feels like justice has been done the weight of evidence again against blood it was huge the judge was very quick early on in these proceedings to say that he did have a direct influence direct impact that signed a signed key directives key documents that ordered the execution and the genocide of eight thousand young men and boys in need so its very hard to imagine how a potential appeal could unfold and could be successful but of course there are many twists and turns in this long case its gone on now for four years could it go on any longer really a question thats still to be answered and when we see those pictures need of the graves of all those older men. Middle aged men men in their twentys teenagers in their late teenage years and we offset that against the rage of the Bosnian Muslim women who weve seen in the past half hour as well reacting to the sentence its maybe worth remembering as well that in part srebrenica happened and this is an established fact srebrenica happened because the dutch peacekeepers on the ground were ham strong by that two steps forward one step back a dynamic that happened when it came to the constitution the putting together of the peacekeeping mission and Mission Creep and who do the engage with who do they not engage with and that was that was quite a black day for the United Nations and for all the feeder nations that had people on the ground in. Bosnia and indeed in places like croatia and kosovo as well up to the point when in effect unilateral action put an end to the serbian ambitions to create a greater serbia and pull in bosnia herzegovina. Yes and one of the main failings i suppose thats been levied at the United Nations is that they werent clear cut enough about what their role is there was that gray area as you say about how far they should go how much they should involve themselves in what initially like a regional conflict that quickly escalated into something much darker into examples of genocide excuse the sound of passing truck into a examples of genocide of war crimes not seen on the scale since the Second World War and it has been a major of major importance i think for the United Nations to see this case are no others come to an end in a prompt way it has of course though been a very very long wait for families of lot of his victims as i said twenty two years since the end of the conflict on the run for sixteen years arrested in two thousand and eleven four year trial and then a year wait until now the moment when the verdict has been given i think the United Nations who set up this tribunals precisely to deal with people like milat age will believe that this is justice being done but of course undoubtedly when we look back at that dark period in european history there are going to be lingering questions about whether more should and could have been done whether the United Nations mandate in the part of the world could have been clearer and more lives could have been saved me for the moment many thanks lots more on that for you in the coming hour here on aljazeera. Now lets go to another compelling story zimbabwes former Vice President will be sworn in as the new president on friday he is emerson. He fled to south africa when he was fired by Robert Mugabe who quit on tuesday now he is due back home within the next hour we think the rulings on a p. F. Party has already nominated him to fill. The office of president and election. Covering the story of harare. People waiting for him to arrive they want to know what kind of it is to be is he the right man for the job. Businessman thank you for joining us. Do you want. To be. A leadership that. We want to see leadership that. We want. To be a president for every zimbabwe and what kind of what you want to see and where we want to see is that embraces in these differences that closes ranks diversities that we should be able to express ourselves and also embraces the freedoms that constitution and indeed. Be able to walk hand in hand and ending with our differences and diversity we want. To say what have we done what it means have made things worse for themselves. First and foremost we have tolerated leadership that. Patronized us for a long and now we need to actually speak up and speak out where things are going wrong and not just speak out and speak up but to also get involved and to be the solution be part of the change in the transformation we need many times will be commentators on the sidelines but weve not been able to put on the table and make sure that that which is wrong is corrected. Thank you very much trust. The people. In the morning they were concerned about what actually what kind of. Came out and said i hope that we dont erase the good things. The fact that he was an african icon told black people to be proud of themselves embrace didnt embrace being black they hope thats his good legacy. But all eyes are on him the main thing people want to hear from him is the economy. One quick point when all those protests were happening on the streets a lot of the anger it seems from this distance a lot of the anger was aimed at grace mugabe but the anger the political anger is now being aimed at Robert Mugabe what happens next do we think. Shes being kicked out here its highly unlikely shes going to form. Highly highly unlikely i think shell probably disappear from the headlines people will stop talking about her she may emerge i suspect if he travels to south africa that case thats waged. By young woman in johannesburg who was with her sons i mean they do want her brought to justice we may hear things like that coming out of grace but politically in zimbabwe i think. People really dont want to hear they want to move on and they blame her for the downfall of. Ok harry thanks very much. Says hes agreed to delay his resignation as the Prime Minister of lebanon offer a quest from the president to allow dialogue areas back in beirut two weeks after announcing his resignation whilst in saudi arabia. From beirut. A crucial show of unity moment for lebanon. President michel i want a question Parliament Speaker and then be a muslim and Prime Minister saad that had a sunni muslim all together commemorating Independence Day divided along sectarian lines lebanon faces yet another political crisis the latest started on the fourth of november when harry and now asked his resignation while visiting saudi arabia he accused hezbollah and iran of destabilizing the region his surprise announcement threw lebanons fragile political order into disarray president accused the saudis of an act of aggression against lebanon and holding how to really against his will the saudis sav the fear for his safety back home after visiting france and egypt how did he eventually landed back in lebanon on tuesday and paid his respects at the grave of his father a heavy the former Prime Minister was assassinated in a massive explosion in beirut twelve years ago his son called on all parties to stay away from regional conflicts but after meeting president our own how did it decided to suspend his resignation. To the islands designed with down the i one i stressed my commitment to cooperate with the president i will for the sake of lebanon to keep our country away from wars and disputes i have discussed my resignation with the president and he asked me not to resign now and to keep it until more consultation about the reasons behind my resignation. Lebanons political crisis is turning into a confrontation between the regions major rivals saudi arabia which backs how dearie against iran which supports the armed Group Hezbollah an enemy of israel the regional rivalry extends to the wars in yemen and syria. Weld lead. They say a stable lebanon is key to the regions stability Prime Minister said that how do you know hes back home on the political crisis is. Against the backdrop of the ongoing political divide the main parties may not be able to agree on a successor if i meet he insists on stepping down why spreads worry here is his resignation may cause instability. To the right beirut. Correspondent outside the president ial palace saying how much certainty is there surrounding what we think his night next move might be. Well you know he did talk about our own trying to convince him to put off the resignation to allow for more discussions but peter there were indications before today that in one way or another some sort of compromise was in the making there has been International Intervention the french president the egyptian president theyve been Holding Contacts with the different players and there were messages that were being given for example sources close to the president they were saying that will convince heidi to withdraw his resignation we will give him some sort of guarantees that levanon will implement that this is a policy the policy really that lebanon will not get involved in any regional conflicts even hezbollah messages we heard from the secretary general a few days ago when he said that were going to be pulling out our commanders and advisers from iraq because the war against i so is now over so i message that you know the fact that we sent troops to be on the eleven on borders we are going to be pulling them back so messages were being given so indications that had he was going to be you know take a different decision and not insist on his resignation if he wasnt held against his will the key question the key supplementary question surely has to be why did he tender his resignation when he was inside the arabia. Well exactly this is what he hasnt. He kept on saying when he was abroad that when i come back to lebanon i will explain the situation really the past two weeks there were a lot of questions he suddenly resigned on Saudi State Television even his own aides were were surprised they werent expecting this and then he stayed in saudi arabia he was seen in public but he never spoke in public until there was this live interview on his local channel with a reporter on his payroll so there was a lot of questions even the president made it very clear that he believed that had eaten his family were being held hostage and that he launched a Diplomatic Campaign and many here believe it was the french mediation efforts allowed heidi to leave saudi arabia and go to paris so many people are asking questions is he really an independent man and him coming back on Independence Day theres really a lot of irony because many believe levanon remains a proxy state caught in the middle of this regional conflict and its independence have always been open for question can we get a handle on who is exerting the most control over this quite bizarre situation is it the saudis is it the french is it the lebanese president is it mr hariri himself or is it hezbollah. Well you have the pro saudi and pro iranian camp in lebanon as of late the pro iranian camp has become much stronger hezbollah has a state within a state and hezbollah has an armed wing it has a Regional Reach it has fighters in syria and in iraq so it is it has become very very strong its armed wing is Even Stronger than the National Army and that is why saudi arabia wanted to do something to try to curb irans influence across the region and they wanted to start here in lebanon but it all backfired because of the way in which it handled the situation the lebanese came together they saw the Prime Minister as well in one way or another hostage so you have this saudi iranian rivalry the french being of course lebanons the former colonial power in lebanon today marking in the pens from french rule even though its the french who are trying to mediate the crisis the latest political crisis in the. Country so many players have influences in this country and thats why and all the different leaders are linked to these regional and International Players so the decision is not made here in lebanon for sure readings in a way that israels been pretty quiet on this one over the past forty eight hours given that israel and saudi arabia were kind of in the same space when it came to their central accusation that iran wants to create a big arc of influence will influence from the north to the south and across across the region as well. Well yes israel has always voiced concern about the growing iranian influence its particularly concerned about the iranian influence in syria and thats why it has been in Constant Contact with the russians as well as the americans trying to reach some sort of a cease fire deal in the southwestern corner of syria so that iranian troops will not be close to its borders and israel of course targeting convoys of weapons that pose that it believes are either heading to hezbollah or belonging to hezbollah but of course israel wasnt ready for another military adventure we have to remember in two thousand and six there was a war in lebanon israels war israel trying to get rid of hezbollah and many will say nobody one of course has but i will say it was they were victorious but at the end of the day israel did not achieve its aims only grew stronger so this is not the way forward has been has really entrenched in Lebanese Society it has supporters its a Political Party it has ministers and government it has deputies in parliament so israel was not really you know supporting the idea of a military adventure for the time being zany you keep us posted im sure in the meantime many thanks. Ok lets go back to that story thats broken just in the past what half hour or so the conviction of the. Military chief for the u. N. Will try to be in the hague has been found guilty on ten out of eleven counts ranging from genocide crimes against humanity ethnic cleansing to get another name. And also plain Old Fashioned correspondent is in the serbian capital belgrade. Whats the reaction there. Still expecting the reaction from serbia. Quite quiet at the moment. President aleksander he will soon address the nation about the indictment of the conviction of. According to the. Experience we had read the previous convictions in the case tribunal we could assume the serbian official officials will say they will probably say that this is just the sentence for one man that this is not the conviction of holds to be a nation even to nationalise now or to be think this conviction is the conviction of serbia and that every. Soldier. Has to stop its integration because e. U. Is showing what they feel about serbia serbia and quiet these last few days they didnt comment and i think from the. We could see that paper medias writing about this but they are not writing about the accusations about the indictment today were i think about who is right and hes family is doing right now because of that. Are saying that sabean people doesnt know what theyre not commodities actually accused of and what he did in. Ninetys and in one survey we had forty two percent of sybian population doesnt know about. Made against. I could say that before two thousand and eleven and two thousand. Eleven is the year when ross commodity was arrested there were some surveys and some of the car full of serbian population believed that the rot commodity was a hero that they didnt agree to these extradition to duke a tribunal but now some analysts are saying that the mood in the serbian population has been changed and that they dont think about commodities a hero and they are trying and hearing about all of draw cities that happened in the bus