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Ratko Mladic’s son says his father's health is failing him in prison

According to Darko Mladic, an independent team of doctors will only be able to examine his father in October at the earliest because of the Hague tribunal’s formalities

BELGRADE, August 26. /TASS/. Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, 83, who is serving life in prison at The Hague, is in very poor health condition, his son, Darko Mladic, told TASS.

"As for his health, nothing has changed: he is in a poor condition and is not getting better. Police reports say and I can confirm via my personal meeting with him that he is very weak. We are working to get a new medical team to come take a look at him," he said.

According to the general’s son, an independent team of doctors will only be able to examine his father in October at the earliest because of the Hague tribunal’s formalities.

Case around Mladic

Ratko Mladic had been on the run for nearly 16 years until he was arrested in Serbia in May 2011 and extradited to The Hague. On November 22, 2017, he was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and the violation of laws and customs of war. It took 530 days to review his case, which involved testimonies of 377 witnesses and almost 10,000 pieces of hard evidence being presented.

In March 2018, Mladic’s lawyers appealed against the verdict to the IRMCT, which was mandated to perform the functions carried out previously by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (closed on December 31, 2017) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (closed on December 31, 2015). The defense demanded all the mistakes made during the trial be corrected and Mladic be cleared of the ten counts he had been found guilty of before. The lawyers proposed to review the case anew as an alternative. The prosecution also filed an appeal, demanding Mladic be found guilty of the first charge: genocide in five municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On June 8, 2021, the chamber of appeals of The Hague tribunal upheld the life sentence for Ratko Mladic.

On July 29, 2025, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) denied his appeal to be released due to health problems. His family has repeatedly complained that he is denied proper medical assistance at the tribunal’s prison.

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