Protecting Mladic requires canceling the life sentence because he is crazy

Protecting Mladic requires canceling the life sentence because he is crazy

The defence of Ratko Mladic, former head of the Bosnian Serb Army, urged the UN tribunal to annul the decision condemning him to life imprisonment for genocide and other crimes because his mental powers are damaged.

Mladic's defence lawyers on Monday urged judges in the International Criminal Tribunal Mechanism in The Hague to annul the decision handed down in November last year and suspend judicial procedures against the former Bosnian Serb Army commander because of his health problems.

Defence lawyers Branko Lukic and Dragan Ivetzic cited an expert opinion by a Serbian doctor, Gorica Djokovic, who visited Mladic and said he “could not be considered capable of following the” judicial procedures during the trial in The Hague and the moment his decision was handed down.

Tests showed that Mladic suffered from “a slight cognitive drop and mild madness”, according to the doctor.

Because of these reasons, defence requires that the decision be put aside and judicial procedures be suspended until Mladic's health situation becomes stable and until it is determined that he is able to take part in the trial,” said in the UN tribunal's defence motion.

The first-degree chamber ruled when Mladic's co-operation status was put at risk and did not allow it to participate in judicial procedures. Respecting the defendant's human rights implies that a decision cannot be given if the defendant is unable to pursue the trial,” he added.

The Hague tribunal sentenced Mladic in November last year to life in prison for the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in 1995, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the Sarajevo population and the hostage of UN peacekeepers.

He was acquitted of genocide charges in several other Bosnian municipalities in 1992.

In a separate motion in court Monday, Mladic's defence lawyers urged the International Criminal Court Mechanism to initiate court contempt proceedings against the doctor in The Hague tribunal's Pre-primmation Unit, Paulus Falke, and other members of the Pre-burging Unit staff, who they claim are responsible for dealing with Mladic's health problems.

The actions of these detainee Unit officers have made it impossible to have a clear idea of the defendant's state of health and have contributed to possible mistakes in his treatment,” said in the motion.

Mladic's lawyers had complained about the health care they were offered to their client in the Pre-trial Unit even before making the decision and requested visits by Serbian and Russian doctors to determine whether he was receiving adequate treatment at The Hague.

In December, Serbia's justice minister Nela Kubovovic visited Mladic in The Hague and said Belgrade would probably seek his provisional release for medical treatment.