Justice Minister says Serbia prepared to provide guarantees for Mladic release

Mladic was the general commanding Bosnian Serb forces during the war of the 1990s. He was sentenced for war crimes, including the Srebrenica massacre, by the Hague Tribunal after being extradited by Serbia following years in hiding.

Vujic said that Mladic’s possible release is up to the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) Judge Graciela Gatti Santana. “We have now given guarantees in respect of all warrants issued by the Mechanism and will if there are others such as the presence of its representatives who would monitor the general’s health, security measures, media presence and other things,” he told the Serbian state TV (RTS) after visiting Mladic in prison.

According to the minister, “this is not a question of politics or the court judgement which can be defined one way or another but a question of life”. He said that he saw Mladic gradually fading away and added that the punishment must not be revenge. “Serbia is preparing to address the UN Human Rights Committee,” he added.

He alleged failure to follow medical protocols in Mladic’s treatments.