Mladic Demands Closing Statements in February 2016

Ratko Mladic’s defence lawyers filed a motion on Friday asking for January 12 next year to be set as the deadline for filing written closing motions, and for the closing statements in his trial to be presented in court “five weeks later”.

The Hague Tribunal’s trial chamber set October 25 as the deadline for filing written closing motions, and the prosecutors and defence lawyers are due to present them before the Tribunal from December 5 to 15.

In its appeal against the court’s decision, Mladic’s defence said that those deadlines “are not reasonable” due to “unprecedented omissions that prevented the defence attorneys from working on their written closing motion efficiently”.

The defence lawyers argued that “a fair trial means that the accused should be fully enabled to present his arguments in his closing motion and not be a sacrificial lamb used for covering up the Tribunal’s omissions”.

The appeal also argued that the Tribunal has not ensured sufficient assistance to the defence from the Hague court’s “basic services”.
The defence said that it faced the most serious difficulties when dealing with “information technologies and general administrative support”.

According to the defence’s allegations, “some of the Tribunal’s sections acted in a manipulative manner accompanied by a cynical impunity”.

Mladic’s defence lawyers said they were unable to work on the preparation of their closing arguments in a timely manner because a virus in the Tribunal’s computer system deleted the majority of their database, while neither the court services not the trial chamber provided them with timely support in dealing with the consequences.

The defence concluded by saying that it “understands the unpleasant position in which the trial chamber is, because the Tribunal informed the Security Council of the United Nations that the trial would be completed and verdict pronounced by November 2017 without checking whether its bodies offered the necessary support needed for meeting the deadline”.

“The defence considers political pressure should not be allowed to endanger the defendant’s right to a fair trial. Justice should never be a servant to administrative or political imperatives,” it added.

Mladic has been charged with genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

His trial began in May 2012, a year after he had been arrested in Serbia and extradited to The Hague after having been on the run for 16 years.

The prosecution completed the presentation of its evidence against Mladic in February 2014.

The defence’s evidence presentation lasted from May 2014 to August 16 this year.

According to the Hague Tribunal’s framework plan, the first-instance verdict should be pronounced by November 2017.