A Part of Hearing Held in Absence of Public, as well as Mladic

During the opening part of the hearing indictee Mladic was absent from the courtroom. Presiding Judge Alphonso Orie said that he would be back and follow the next testimony. Judge Orie did not reveal the reason for Mladic’s absence. The Chamber previously removed the indictee from the courtroom on several occasions, because he made loud and insulting comments about witnesses’ testimonies. The trial continued, in Mladic’s absence, with cross-examination of Prosecution investigator Erin Gallagher about the maps depicting the plan of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, offensive on Srebrenica in July 1995. The then VRS Commander Mladic is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Muslim men from Srebrenica, whom the forces under his command shot in the days that followed the occupation of the enclave on July 11, 1995. Gallagher presented the maps to judges at the beginning of the presentation of Prosecution’s evidence about genocide in Srebrenica in early March this year. Mladic’s Defence attorney Dragan Ivetic examined the witness about the sources of her information related to the content of those maps. By signing the map of the offensive against Srebrenica, called “Krivaja 95”, Mladic approved it. His Defence did not deny the authenticity of his signature on the map presented in the courtroom.At the end of the hearing Mladic wanted to address the judges in relation to a letter, which, as alleged by his Defence attorney Branko Lukic, he sent to the management of the Detention Unit in Scheveningen. Judge Orie did not allow him to do it, requesting Lukic to read the letter first and decide whether it is appropriate for the Trial Chamber to deal with it.Mladic is also charged with the persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which reached the scale of genocide in seven municipalities, terror against civilians in Sarajevo through long-lasting shelling and sniping and taking UNPROFOR members hostage. The trial of Mladic is due to continue on April 18.