Hague Refuses Early Release for ‘Terminally Ill’ Mladic

Although the court acknowledged that 83-year-old genocide and war crimes convict’s condition is “precarious” and he does not have long to live, it insisted that he is getting high-quality medical care in detention in the Netherlands.

Milica Stojanovic, July 29, 2025

Ratko Mladic in court in The Hague in November 2017. Photo: EPA-EFE/PETER DEJONG/POOL.

The United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Tuesday denied wartime Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic’s request for early release on humanitarian grounds.

The president of the IRMCT, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, noted in her decision that “uncontradicted medical opinions indicate that Mladic is nearing the end of his life”, and that his current condition “which requires dependency on others for activities of daily living, is precarious”.

But she stated that “Mladic continues to receive very comprehensive and compassionate care, as amply supported by medical reports”.

Gatti Santana added that information she has “demonstrates that the compelling humanitarian circumstances invoked by Mladic as a basis for his release are not substantiated”.

“Mladic does not suffer from an acute terminal illness which could justify his release, and the current arrangements in the UNDU [United Nations Detention Unit] and the JCvSZ [Justitieel Centrum voor Somatische Zorg, the prison hospital] provide him with high-quality care tailored to his specific conditions,” she explained.

In June, Mladic’s lawyers have made an urgent request to the IRMCT to release the wartime Bosnian Serb military chief on humanitarian grounds because he has already been transferred to palliative care and only has months to live.

Calling for the 83-year-old genocide and war crimes convict to be given provisional release or conditional early release, the motion argued that “Mladic’s limited life expectancy is a central humanitarian issue that should be given decisive weight”.

Mladic was convicted under a final verdict in June 2021 of the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country during the war, terrorising the population of Sarajevo with a campaign of shelling and sniping during the siege of the city, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

During his time in custody in the Netherlands, Mladic has had several serious medical problems and has suffered two strokes and a heart attack.

His lawyers have repeatedly claimed that he has not been getting proper treatment and that his health problems have been underestimated. The UN court has repeatedly declined requests for him to be hospitalised for treatment.

Copyright BIRN 2015