UN Court Rejects Mladic’s Call to Prosecute Medics

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said on Wednesday that it will not reconsider its previous decision to refuse a request from Ratko Mladic’s defence to initiate proceedings for contempt of court against medical staff at the UN Detention Unit, which holds Hague defendants.

“Mladic’s motions referring to ‘newly-acquired facts’ do not constitute the circumstances that justify the reconsideration for the purpose of avoiding injustice,” the UN court’s decision said.

Mladic’s defence initially requested earlier this year that proceedings be initiated against doctor Paulus Falke, the chief of the medical staff at the Detention Unit, and other medical workers, claiming they were responsible for the deterioration of the former Bosnian Serb Army commander’s health.

But the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals rejected the defence’s initial plea in May.

“Considering that the motions filed by Mladic’s defence, expressing dissatisfaction with medical care at the Detention Unit, do not show that the medical staff deliberately and intentionally obstructed justice, I conclude that Mladic’s defence has not proved the existence of suspicion that they are guilty of contempt of court,” said the decision in May.

The defence then asked the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals to reconsider, but this request was rejected on Wednesday.

On several occasions before Mladic’s conviction last November, his lawyers asked for a postponement of the verdict on health grounds.

They also asked for Mladic to be released for treatment, insisting that his health condition has deteriorated and that he was not receiving adequate care at the Detention Unit, and that should be hospitalised.

In November last year, Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

Mladic was acquitted of genocide in six other Bosnian municipalities in 1992.

Both the defence and Hague prosecutors have announced they will file appeals

Mladic has been held in custody in The Hague since his arrest in Serbia in May 2011.

Prior to his arrest, Mladic – who is now 75 – had suffered three strokes.