General could miss atrocities verdict

A LAWYER for General Ratko Mladic said yesterday it is not certain the former Bosnian Serb military commander will appear in a United Nations courtroom when judges deliver their verdicts in his long-running trial for allegedly masterminding atrocities during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

Mladic’s lawyers have filed a flurry of recent motions to have the ailing 75-year-old’s health assessed before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announces it decisions tomorrow.

He was tried on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Mladic’s trial is the last to end at the ground-breaking tribunal before it closes down by the end of the year.

The court last year convicted his political master, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, on near-identical charges and sentenced him to 40 years. Karadzic has appealed.

Defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic said lawyers for the former military leader were not attempting to stall the case and have been trying for weeks to have Mladic’s health checked, fearing a court appearance might kill him.

“We’ve had a medical doctor that has said, actually based on his diagnosed condition, any form of stress, including a trial proceeding, may increase his chance of having a stroke, a heart attack or dying,” Mr Ivetic said.

Judges at the court have so far rejected the lawyers’ requests for doctors to visit Mladic, who survived two strokes and a heart attack before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2011.

The former general is under close medical supervision at the United Nations detention facility where he has been held since his arrest.

“General Mladic wants to be present because he believes that he is not guilty,” Mr Ivetic said.