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Ratko Mladic Fit For Trial

Fit To Be Tried For Genocide
Reuters
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AMSTERDAM, July 13 (Reuters) - The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic will resume on Monday after doctors determined that he is well enough to appear in court, a spokeswoman for the tribunal said on Friday.

Mladic, who is accused of genocide over the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the 1995 killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, was rushed to a Dutch hospital on Thursday, the fourth day of his war crimes trial, after asking for a break and slumping with his head in his hands.

"Ratko Mladic has returned to the Detention Unit after medical examinations confirmed there were no abnormalities in his health status and that no treatment is required," Nerma Jelacic, spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said in a statement.

"The previous determination that Mladic is fit to stand trial therefore remains unchanged."

The 70-year-old former general was already in poor health when he was arrested in Serbia last year after 16 years on the run.

He has frequently said he is too ill to stand trial: he complains that he suffers from the effects of a stroke and has problems with his teeth, and he has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia.

Prosecutors and relatives of victims fear that he could die without facing justice, as happened with former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who died in a Dutch prison cell in 2006 while on trial. (Reporting by Sara Webb; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Before You Go

Srebrenica And The Trial of Ratko Mladic
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In this Monday March 29, 1993 file photo evacuees from the besieged Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, packed on a truck en route to Tuzla, pass through Tojsici, 56 miles north of Sarajevo. More than 2,300 evacuees left Srebrenica on U.N. trucks for Tuzla. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (credit:AP)
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This July 13, 1995 file photo shows Dutch UN peacekeepers sitting on top of an APC as Muslim refugees from Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, gather in the village of Potocari, some 5 kms north of Srebrenica. (AP Photo) (credit:AP)
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In this Monday, June 22, 1992 file photo a wounded Sarajevo resident sits in shock next to two other seriously wounded civilians moments after one of several mortar shells landed in central Sarajevo. (AP Photo/Santiago Lyon) (credit:AP)
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This Sunday Jan. 28, 1996 file photo shows Bosnian Muslim prisoners newly released from Foca prison 85 km (53 miles) from Sarajevo being assisted by French IFOR soldiers as they queue for a bus at Sarajevo airport for transport into the city and reunion with family and loved ones. (AP Photo/Rikard Larma) (credit:AP)
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This Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 file photo shows destroyed bridge over the Drina river at the entrance of the Bosnian Serb town of Foca, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Sarajevo. (AP Photo/Sava Radovanovic) (credit:AP)
(06 of08)
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This Thursday July 13, 1995 file photo shows a young Muslim refugee from Srebrenica watching as other refugees pass in a UN armored vehicle as they arrive at a U.N. base 12 kms south of Tuzla, 100kms (60 miles) north of Sarajevo. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic) (credit:AP)
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In this April 16, 1994 photo, Bosnian Serb army commander-in-chief Col. General Ratko Mladic, center, observes Bosnian government forces positions in Gorazde, eastern Bosnia, surrounded by his bodyguards. (AP Photo/Emil Vas) (credit:AP)
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Toys and other belongings of children killed in Sarajevo during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, displayed at an exhibition dedicated to the little victims in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Hundreds of children were among the 11,654 Sarajevans who were killed by snipers and shells. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) (credit:AP)
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