On Wednesday, a shadow over the concept of justice in Europe lifted as a result of the verdict announced for Ratko Mladic, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia."

Mladic was found guilty for ordering the bombing of Sarajevo and the genocide of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. Since then, as justice was drawn out, the victims of the atrocity and their relatives continued to suffer.

The head of the Serbian army, Ratko Mladic, was found to be a war criminal, as his acts were determined to be genocide in Eastern Europe in the 1990s. Nearly half a century away from the end of World War II and the Nazi fascism, a similar crime was committed while people were nominally under the protection of a shelter provided by European states.

Ironically, The Hague, where the tribunal was, is a city in the Netherlands, which headed the United Nations mission in Bosnia in 1995, during the Serbian attacks against Muslims in Bosnia. The failure of the Netherlands to prevent such a war crime was ignored, as a court located in that country gave the final decision at the war crimes trial, which began in 2012.

It was not only the Netherlands, but also most European states, that turned a blind eye on suffering Bosnians. Their silence was a clear approval of the genocide committed by Serbian forces in Bosnia.

Sarajevo still has signs of the war and endless bombings by Serbian forces. Still, traces of bullets and bombs are visible on the walls of buildings, especially outside the city.

The darkest page of European history is the Bosnian war and the ethnic cleansing of Bosnians together with the Holocaust committed by the Nazis against Jews during World War II. Moreover, if a sin is being committed despite the memories of a similar recent sin, the scale of that crime and shame should be considered much, much bigger.

Did Europe learn the necessary lessons from that darkest page? If one takes the recent developments into account, it seems that Europe is very far from a serious confrontation with its old habits. Still, Europe's approach to the identities of the other such as Muslims, refugees, low income groups and minorities is prejudicial. The rise of far-right, anti-refugee sentiments and isolation of different identities are even losing their "news value" because numerous examples are seen on a daily basis.

Can the tragedy of refugees losing their lives on their way to Europe be called something far off from a new approach to ethnic cleansing? Does the international justice system have any position concerning the tragedies of refugees?

Additionally, even recent chemical attacks on civilians in our region remain unpunished and unprosecuted, as international justice has become a tool of world super powers.

And the key question at that point remains unanswered: Is there any guarantee that such a war crime would not be repeated in Europe again?

The sooner a verdict is given, the more justice is served, literally.