24 minutes agoSerbia offers guarantees for Ratko Mladic's provisional release
Periskopi(9 years ago)
(9 years ago)Belgrade authorities said they would issue guarantees that Ratko Mladic will return to his trial at The Hague tribunal if he is released temporarily for medical treatment in Serbia. The Serbian Justice Ministry announced that the Government had offered guarantees to The Hague tribunal to allow former Bosnian Serb Army commander [...]
The Serbian Justice Ministry announced that the Government had offered guarantees to The Hague tribunal to allow former Bosnian Serb Army Commander Ratko Mladic, who is being tried for genocide and other war crimes, to be temporarily released from custody for treatment.
Mladic was earlier denied provisional release in May 2017, when he asked to receive medical treatment in Russia.
The Hague prosecutors indicated there was the danger that he could step down before the verdict in his trial.
Lawyers and Mladic's family officially asked the Serbian government on 5 September to grant The Hague tribunal the guarantees required to seek the early release of former Bosnian Serb Army commander for health reasons.
Mladic has had some serious health problems during his stay in prison and has suffered two heart attacks and a heart attack. His lawyers say his situation deteriorated even more in May of this year.
After receiving assurances from Serbia, his defence team will submit a request to The Hague and the court will decide on it.
Mladic was arrested in 2011 in the village of Lazarevo, near Zrenjanin, north of Serbia, after spending 16 years on the run.
He is now being tried in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia, which allegedly amounted to genocide in several municipalities, terrorising the Sarajevo population, and kidnapping UN peacekeepers.
Defence and prosecution gave the latest closing statements at his trial in December last year.
The decision is expected to be made in November.
