The defence lawyers of Ratko Mladic, the 82-year-old Bosnian Serb general who was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, are requesting his urgent release to Serbia on medical grounds. In a motion filed on the U.N. court’s website, they are asking judges to allow the elderly general to seek treatment for an undisclosed but potentially life-threatening condition.
Mladic has experienced cognitive impairments and has been hospitalized at least twice this year. Known as the “butcher of the Balkans”, he led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia’s war and was convicted for terrorizing the civilian population of Sarajevo during a siege and massacring more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), which oversees Mladic’s case, has not yet indicated when they will make a decision on the release application. However, Mladic’s lawyers argue that he can receive specialized medical treatment in Serbia for his illness, and being in the country would eliminate language barriers that currently hinder communication.