UN Court Rejects Release Request for Deteriorating Ratko Mladic
The UN’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in The Hague has rejected a humanitarian release request for Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief serving a life sentence for genocide and other wartime crimes. Although IRMCT President Graciela Gatti Santana acknowledged that Mladic’s health is very serious, deteriorating, and approaching death following a recent stroke, she ruled that he receives high-quality medical care within the UN Detention Unit. The decision emphasizes that no additional treatment is available elsewhere in the Netherlands and that his detention conditions do not amount to inhuman or undignified treatment. Mladic’s lawyers had argued for his transfer to a specialized hospice due to irreversible medical decline. However, the court noted he benefits from an exceptional visitation regime, allowing frequent contact with family, including during his final moments. Mladic was convicted in June 2021 for the Srebrenica genocide, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, the siege of Sarajevo, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage during the 1992-95 Bosnian War.
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