BELGRADE, June 8. /TASS/. The life sentence of Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb military commander, confirmed on Tuesday as he lost his final appeal in The Hague has no links to law or justice, Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik told reporters on Tuesday.
"As for the verdict and this mechanism (International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, IRMCT - TASS), I think that they have nothing to do with law and justice," he said. The politician underlined that the mechanism "does not address the goals of The Hague tribunal set out when it was created." "These are finding responsibility of those at fault and increasing trust between nations. This goal has not been achieved. What justice is it if today’s court ruling is not heard in prison by [former Bosnian commander] Naser Oric, [Croatian general] Ante Gotovina, and many others who committed genocide against Serbs. They are protected today by the mechanism of international untruth," he said, noting that the IRMCT is engaged in the policy of selective justice.
"This ruling sent Mladic directly into legends," Dodik said. The politician added that the only positive result from today’s decision is that the IRMCT will now be dissolved because it has no active hearings anymore. Dodik also expressed condolences "to all victims of this war irrespective of nationality and religion."
Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb commander, was in hiding for almost 16 years until he was arrested in Serbia in May 2011 and extradited to The Hague. Mladic was sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on November 22, 2017, for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violation of laws and customs of war. The tribunal found him guilty on ten out of eleven counts and only acquitted him on the charge of genocide in six municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mladic was convicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Srebrenica.
In March 2018, Mladic’s attorneys filed an appeal, demanding that all procedural mistakes be corrected and that he be cleared on all ten charges.
The former commander suffered three strokes and one heart attack in prison. According to his defense team, he did not receive adequate medical help in prison.