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After the prosecutor posed two questions to Dragan Kijac this morning, the session was closed to the public as per a request by Mladic’s defense attorney, Branko Lukic. The public was allowed to attend the hearing again about ten minutes later, but presiding judge Alphons Orie then interrupted the hearing due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
Orie didn’t explain his reasons for interrupting the hearing when it resumed two hours later. Procedural issues were discussed when the session resumed.
Mladic was not present in the courtroom. Lukic said the defendant had given up his right to attend the trial proceedings.
Following an administrative discussion, Orie scheduled the next hearing for Monday, October 26.
Prior to being arrested in late May 2011, Mladic suffered three strokes. While at the Hague Tribunal, he underwent medical treatment for pneumonia and underwent minor medical interventions.
At the beginning of June 2013, Mladic thanked the Hague Tribunal and its medical staff for having “saved his life” and “brought him back to life again.” The medical doctor at the court’s detention unit described Mladic’s condition as “stable” at the time and said no deterioration of his health had been observed.
Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina (which reached the scale of genocide in six municipalities), terrorizing the local population of Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members hostage.
