By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – After a Serbian court rejected his appeal for extradition, Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, will appear before The Hague on Friday to face charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Mladic will also answer questions about his health. Despite being deemed by judges in Belgrade, Serbia to be physically and mentally fit for trial, Mladic’s lawyer, Milos Saljic, said he had proof that Mladic, 69, had and was treated for lymph node cancer in 2009. However, tests administered while he has been at The Hague show that he does not have cancer. Saljic also said that Mladic’s memory was shaky.
Mladic was captured last week in Serbia, where he had been hiding out and on the run for sixteen years. He was responsible for the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, among other atrocities committed in the nineties.
On Tuesday, Mladic arrived at the high-security Scheveningen prison, near The Hague, where he spent the night in isolation and received his medical checkup the next day.
Relief spread throughout Europe upon news of Mladic’s capture, and marks a major milestone for international justice. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has sentenced other top generals from the Balkans. Radovan Karadzic, Mladic’s wartime boss, has been at Scheveningen for three years and is awaiting trial. Many of the other Scheveningen defendants from the Balkans were once associates of Mladic and are facing similar charges relating to atrocities.
Though there has been talk of possibly joining Mladic and Karadzic’s trials, no official decision has been made.
For now, all focus is on Mladic. “His arrest confirms that no one can have impunity for the crimes they’ve committed,” said ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz.
The time that has elapsed since Mladic’s atrocities “is a long time to wait for justice,” Brammertz said. “It is a long time to know that someone responsible for their trauma is walking free. We understand why the victims have been impatient for their day and we recognize their courage.”
For more information, please see:
CNN – Mladic to appear at war crimes tribunal on Friday – 1 June 2011
New York Times – Mladic to Appear Friday Before Hague Court – 1 June 2011
The Hague Justice Portal – Former Bosnian Serb General, Ratko Mladic, now in ICTY custody awaiting trial for war crimes – 1 June 2011
Human Rights Watch – In Mladic Arrest, a Reminder of How Far International Justice Has Come – 31 May 2011
