Attorneys for convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic are waiting for a UN court to rule on their request to have him released from The Hague prison on the grounds that he is nearing the end of his life. In 2017, Mladic, 84, was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide committed during the 1992–1995 hostilities in the former Yugoslavia. In 2021, the guy dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia” had his sentence upheld on appeal.
Mladic had previously been bedridden or in a wheelchair for a considerable amount of time, according to his attorneys’ comprehensive report to the court on Friday. However, they claimed that during a call with his son, he had a suspected stroke that nearly prevented him from speaking. The lawyers have demanded his urgent provisional or conditional transfer to a hospital or hospice where the Serbian language is spoken, claiming that two doctors had evaluated his condition as serious and that the “risk of imminent death is high”.
It is evident that Mladic’s defense team wants him to go back home, and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic has stated that his country is willing to give the court assurances if they free him. An independent health examination was requested by Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, and the results were scheduled to be presented on Friday. In the 1990s, Mladic led Bosnian Serb forces against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Bosnian Croat armies. During this conflict, his troops massacred 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica, engaged in “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and besieged Sarajevo, killing over 10,000 people.
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