UN court denies Mladic request for release on health grounds

By Stephanie van den Berg

A U.N. war crimes court on Tuesday denied an application by Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, to be urgently released to Serbia on health grounds.

In a decision published on the court's website, the court said that while Mladic's health condition is precarious, it is stable and well managed at the U.N. detention centre in The Hague.

The specific medical conditions of the 83-year-old former general, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, are redacted in court papers but he is known to suffer cognitive impairments and was hospitalised at least twice this year, according to earlier court hearings and documents.

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"Uncontradicted medical opinions indicate that Mladic is nearing the end of his life, a fate that is human," the president of the court Graciela Gatti Santana, said in the ruling.

She added, however, that the former general does not have an acute terminal illness which could justify his release.

Mladic led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, part of the bloody break up of Yugoslavia. He was convicted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes including terrorising the civilian population of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during a 43-month siege, and the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys taken prisoner in the eastern town of Srebrenica in 1995.