Judges Order Full Medical Exam for Mladic
Accused has complained of health that have prevented him attending court.
Judges Order Full Medical Exam for Mladic
Accused has complained of health that have prevented him attending court.
Judges at The Hague tribunal this week ordered a medical examination and report on Ratko Mladic’s condition after the accused was too ill to attend a recent status conference in his case.
“A full report on the accused’s health will assist the chamber in the pre-trial stage to better assess whether and to what extent his health condition could affect the preparation for the upcoming trial,” presiding Judge Alphons Orie wrote in the November 16 decision.
At last week’s status conference which took place without Mladic, Judge Orie indicated that the bench might order a full medical report. One day earlier, Mladic released his medical records to the bench and court registry.
Judge Orie said a new medical report should cover an assessment of Mladic’s overall condition, “specific adverse health defects and their physical and mental effects on the accused,” and any treatment he has received since arriving at the United Nations Detention Unit last June, the judge went on to state.
The report is to be completed and submitted confidentially by December 6, two days before the next status conference takes place.
Mladic, 69, was the commander of the Bosnian Serb army from 1992 to 1996, and is alleged to have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Bosnian war. These include the Srebrenica massacre, as well as the shelling and sniping campaign against Sarajevo, which killed about 12,000 civilians.
He is also charged with crimes of genocide, persecution, extermination, murder and forcible transfer in relation to various municipalities across Bosnia.
He was arrested in Serbia on May 26 after 16 years as a fugitive, bearing little resemblance to the robust general seen in wartime video footage. Since his arrival in The Hague on June 3, his health has been the subject of much speculation, and he was reportedly hospitalised with pneumonia last month.
Amid concerns that he might not survive a multi-year trial, the prosecution made a request last August to split his indictment and hold separate consecutive trials, but judges rejected this request last month.
Prosecutors are now attempting to trim the current indictment. For more on this, see Prosecutor Attempts to Cut Mladic Indictment.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
