Post by uz on Nov 5, 2011 16:38:39 GMT -5
THE HAGUE — Each time Ratko Mladic has come to court, he has complained about his health — his fatigue, his stroke-weakened right arm, his kidney pains — emphasizing his ailments as if they were the central focus of his trial on war crimes and genocide charges.
But as the extent of health problems of Mr. Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general, has become more apparent after five months in custody, court officials worry that they may well shape the case against him, their most high-profile defendant.
In the past month, Mr. Mladic, 69, has been treated for lingering pneumonia, which included a week in the hospital, the court has said. He has also had a hernia operation, several teeth removed, and will be treated for kidney stones, said Branko Lukic, Mr. Mladic’s lawyer.
A team of Serbian physicians is now expected in The Hague in the coming days, a request of Mr. Mladic’s that was granted by the court, Mr. Lukic and a court spokesman said. They expect a psychiatrist and a cardiologist from Belgrade, Serbia, as well as specialists from a military hospital where Mr. Mladic was treated for a stroke he suffered in 1996. He had two more strokes, in 2008 and early 2011, that were not treated, his lawyer said.
“He wants to talk to doctors in his own language, and he wants to know if he is capable of following the trial,” Mr. Lukic said. “I myself also want doctors to fully examine him, so I know where I am standing.”
Mr. Lukic, a Bosnian Serb who has been a defense lawyer in four other war crime trials at the court, said he had met Mr. Mladic only after the family asked him to take on the case in The Hague.
“He seems to be a sick man, his thoughts are wandering and his short-term memory is poor,” Mr. Lukic said. “He remembers what happened in the 1990s, but he may not remember things that happened the day before. To me he never complains, but sometimes he can barely speak.”
Mr. Mladic has so far attended four pretrial hearings, where he has swung from shouting at the judges to trying to charm them, to begging for sympathy because of his age, to protesting about being handcuffed — all infuriating to people in the courtroom who said the former general had destroyed so many lives without hesitation.
At the last hearing, in October, he turned on his lawyer, who tried to answer a judge’s question. “Don’t talk before you consult me,” he ordered in a loud voice.
Still, despite his health recurring as a theme in court, judges and prosecutors say they lack detailed medical reports because Mr. Mladic has not wanted them disclosed.
In recent days, the magnitude of the Mladic trial — he faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide linked to the wars in Bosnia and Croatia — has started to unfold as prosecutors began to share their evidence with the defense.
In October, the prosecution sent a first portion, Mr. Lukic said. “We got 128 gigabytes; perhaps several million pages.” That was only a start, he said.
The prosecution has asked permission to split the indictment into two parts “to plan for the contingency that Mr. Mladic’s health could deteriorate,” as its application said. It intended to start with a first trial for the execution of more than 7,000 captive men and boys at Srebrenica, the most notorious massacre of the Bosnian war, where prosecutors said Mr. Mladic played “a particularly central role.” But judges turned down that request, arguing that two separate trials would most likely be less efficient and infringe on Mr. Mladic’s rights.
Prosecutors say they are now trying to reduce the indictment by cutting some of the wartime events, without changing the overall charges.
Many are mindful of the case of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president who died in 2006 before the end of his four-year trial.
His case suffered not only from the scope of the charges, encompassing three wars, but also from the poor health of Mr. Milosevic, which led to frequent breaks in the trial and a part-time schedule of just three half days per week. Mr. Milosevic also resisted vital treatments in the Netherlands, particularly those that required general anesthesia.
www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/world/europe/ratko-mladics-poor-health-is-new-focus-of-his-war-crimes-trial.html
But as the extent of health problems of Mr. Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general, has become more apparent after five months in custody, court officials worry that they may well shape the case against him, their most high-profile defendant.
In the past month, Mr. Mladic, 69, has been treated for lingering pneumonia, which included a week in the hospital, the court has said. He has also had a hernia operation, several teeth removed, and will be treated for kidney stones, said Branko Lukic, Mr. Mladic’s lawyer.
A team of Serbian physicians is now expected in The Hague in the coming days, a request of Mr. Mladic’s that was granted by the court, Mr. Lukic and a court spokesman said. They expect a psychiatrist and a cardiologist from Belgrade, Serbia, as well as specialists from a military hospital where Mr. Mladic was treated for a stroke he suffered in 1996. He had two more strokes, in 2008 and early 2011, that were not treated, his lawyer said.
“He wants to talk to doctors in his own language, and he wants to know if he is capable of following the trial,” Mr. Lukic said. “I myself also want doctors to fully examine him, so I know where I am standing.”
Mr. Lukic, a Bosnian Serb who has been a defense lawyer in four other war crime trials at the court, said he had met Mr. Mladic only after the family asked him to take on the case in The Hague.
“He seems to be a sick man, his thoughts are wandering and his short-term memory is poor,” Mr. Lukic said. “He remembers what happened in the 1990s, but he may not remember things that happened the day before. To me he never complains, but sometimes he can barely speak.”
Mr. Mladic has so far attended four pretrial hearings, where he has swung from shouting at the judges to trying to charm them, to begging for sympathy because of his age, to protesting about being handcuffed — all infuriating to people in the courtroom who said the former general had destroyed so many lives without hesitation.
At the last hearing, in October, he turned on his lawyer, who tried to answer a judge’s question. “Don’t talk before you consult me,” he ordered in a loud voice.
Still, despite his health recurring as a theme in court, judges and prosecutors say they lack detailed medical reports because Mr. Mladic has not wanted them disclosed.
In recent days, the magnitude of the Mladic trial — he faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide linked to the wars in Bosnia and Croatia — has started to unfold as prosecutors began to share their evidence with the defense.
In October, the prosecution sent a first portion, Mr. Lukic said. “We got 128 gigabytes; perhaps several million pages.” That was only a start, he said.
The prosecution has asked permission to split the indictment into two parts “to plan for the contingency that Mr. Mladic’s health could deteriorate,” as its application said. It intended to start with a first trial for the execution of more than 7,000 captive men and boys at Srebrenica, the most notorious massacre of the Bosnian war, where prosecutors said Mr. Mladic played “a particularly central role.” But judges turned down that request, arguing that two separate trials would most likely be less efficient and infringe on Mr. Mladic’s rights.
Prosecutors say they are now trying to reduce the indictment by cutting some of the wartime events, without changing the overall charges.
Many are mindful of the case of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president who died in 2006 before the end of his four-year trial.
His case suffered not only from the scope of the charges, encompassing three wars, but also from the poor health of Mr. Milosevic, which led to frequent breaks in the trial and a part-time schedule of just three half days per week. Mr. Milosevic also resisted vital treatments in the Netherlands, particularly those that required general anesthesia.
www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/world/europe/ratko-mladics-poor-health-is-new-focus-of-his-war-crimes-trial.html