War criminal Ratko Mladić wants to die in Serbia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague condemned because of him for his responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre and other war crimes in the Bosnian War.

Application for early release from prison

His lawyers have tried several times in recent years to obtain early release from prison for health reasons. Now it’s that time again. According to his family, Mladić suffered a stroke two weeks ago and is in “dramatically bad” condition.

Mladić’s lawyer therefore applied on Friday for the 84-year-old to be temporarily released from custody so that he could be treated in hospital in Serbia.

Relocation would be a “grave injustice”

Associations of victims of the Bosnian War have spoken out against a possible transfer of the Bosnian Serb war criminal to Serbia. The families of the war victims would see it as a “grave injustice” if Mladić were to avoid further imprisonment under international supervision, representatives of five victims’ associations wrote in a letter. It was addressed to the President of the International Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), Graciela Gatti Santana.

If the request is granted, it would be a “further humiliation for the victims and would call into question the credibility of international justice,” the letter goes on to say. Mladić “evaded justice for years with the support of the very state to which he was to be transferred.”

In the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, Serb units murdered around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the summer of 1995. The massacre is considered one of the worst war crimes in Europe since World War II. Despite his conviction, Mladić is still revered as a hero by some Serbs today.