Serbian Minister of Justice Nenad Vujić visited the Hague convict Ratko Mladić and requested from the Residual Mechanism (MICT), handing over the guarantee of the government in Belgrade, that the former wartime commander of the Republika Srpska Army be released for treatment, the ministry in Belgrade announced.
Mladić is serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the war conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, reports Hina.
Vujić, in a guest appearance on Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) after visiting Mladić, said that his health condition is “serious” and that he “requires serious medical treatment”, requesting “release for treatment for humanitarian reasons”.
There are all the conditions for that, and we as the state will provide additional guarantees if necessary, Vujić said.
Vujić said that “it’s hard when you see someone in bed and it’s hard to look at it from a human perspective.”
“That’s why I insist on his release for humanitarian reasons. You watch someone disappear and that deserves special attention. It’s hard to watch and stay focused on the conversation, it quickly becomes exhausting, after five minutes the answers are yes or no,” Vujić said.
He assessed that “any further detention constitutes a violation of international law and international standards established by the Mandela Rules (of the United Nations), and one of the “fundamental rules that punishment must not be revenge”.
He announced that he would raise the issue with the UN, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture and Inhuman Treatment, assessing that there were “elements of inhuman treatment”.
The UN war crimes tribunal rejected Mladić’s request for his urgent release to Serbia in late July last year on health grounds.
In a decision published on the court’s website, the court stated that Mladić’s health condition, although uncertain, was stable and that he was being well cared for in prison in The Hague.
The specific medical conditions of the 83-year-old former general, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, were redacted in court documents, but it is known that he suffers from cognitive impairment and that he was hospitalized at least twice in 2025, according to earlier court hearings and documents.
“Uncontradicted medical opinions indicate that Mladic is nearing the end of his life, which is the human destiny,” said the president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts, Graciela Gatti Santana, in the verdict.
However, the judge added that the former general does not have an acute terminal illness that could justify his release, Hina reminded.
