The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, yesterday made a decision rejecting the request of the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), war criminal Ratko Mladic, for early release on humanitarian grounds.
The criminal Mladic, who is serving a life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), submitted the request on June 2nd of this year, citing an alleged incurable illness and a short expected lifespan.
In the decision, the Mechanism states that although Mladic’s health condition has worsened due to old age and serious illnesses, his current condition is stable and does not meet the threshold of exceptional humanitarian circumstances that would justify early release. Medical findings indicate that although he is in a life-threatening condition and functionally dependent on others’ help, he is not suffering from an acute, incurable disease.
“The conditions of his detention are fully in line with the principles of humanity and dignity, with high-quality care and regular contact with family members enabled,” the decision states. The Mechanism emphasizes that criminal Mladic spends most of his time in a specialized prison hospital (JCvSZ) in The Hague, where he is under constant supervision by a medical team and has access to therapy and visits.
Although one of the judges, Prisca Matimba Nyambe, expressed the opinion that the request should be granted, given the deteriorating health condition and “potentially inhumane conditions,” the majority of consulted judges did not agree with that view. They believed that the existence of sufficiently compelling humanitarian reasons that would outweigh the interests of justice and the gravity of the crimes for which criminal Mladic was convicted had not been proven.
Criminal Ratko Mladic was arrested in 2011 in Serbia and was convicted in 2017 before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), while his verdict was upheld in 2021. He has been held in the United Nations (UN) detention unit in The Hague for more than 14 years.
The Mechanism ordered that the maximum availability of family members continue to be ensured in accordance with his health condition, and that the President will continue to monitor his health status and take all necessary measures, Klix.ba writes.
