'Co-operative' Mladic awaits his day in court

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single

For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...

Top of the posts: Drunken rants, the Western Fail and misogyny pushers

The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.

Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller

As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...

Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?

Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...

Ratko Mladic will appear before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) tomorrow when the man accused of murdering up to 8,000 Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995 is expected to plead not guilty to charges of genocide.

After evading justice for 16 years, the hearing is expected to be the start of a lengthy legal process that could last until 2014. Mladic's legal team have already argued the former Bosnian Serb commander will die before the end of the trial.

Despite the legal wrangling, which was unable to prevent Mladic's speedy extradition earlier this week, officials at the ICTY said Mladic was coherent during initial interviews on Tuesday evening. The tribunal's registrar John Hocking said yesterday that Mladic had been "extremely co-operative". He said the 69-year-old suspect appeared to understand his questions and the outline of the case against him.

Mr Hocking said that a doctor who examined Mladic saw no immediate medical problems that would prevent him from being taken to the tribunal's detention unit, where he will stay in solitary confinement until tomorrow's hearing. Rarely pictured without his camouflaged army uniform and his Serbian officer's cap in the past, he was wearing a suit and tie as he stepped from the helicopter on Tuesday evening.

"I can state categorically he is not on suicide watch," Mr Hocking said in answer to a question during a press conference yesterday. "At this stage there was no need to place him on suicide watch." Mladic was quoted in the past as saying he would rather take his own life than end up at The Hague tribunal. When arrested last Thursday he had two guns but made no attempt to use them. The Bosnian ambassador to The Netherlands, Miranda Sidran Kamisalic, said Mladic was "talkative, focused and rational" when she met him at the Rotterdam-Hague airport on Tuesday evening. "He wanted to hear my name, he was interested in what city I came from, he wanted to know which district of Sarajevo I live in," she said. Mladic has Bosnian and Serbian citizenship.

More details emerged yesterday about what conditions Mladic can expect during his detention. As well as a 15 square metre cell with amenities like a TV and a computer, he will be provided with regular health care, will be able to take regular exercise. He will also have access to a spiritual counsellor and an English tutor

Cells are locked from 9pm-7.30am, while in the meantime the inmates can prepare their defence, talk to each other and even cook, if not satisfied with Dutch food. Mladic will also be allowed to have family visits that are monitored but not recorded, which will be paid for by Serbia. He will have to pay for his own defence and it is still unknown if he has appointed any lawyers.

The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said at a press conference yesterday that the arrest of Mladic "has been long awaited" and that the crimes he is accused of have "shocked the conscience of international community".

According to Mr Brammertz, the forthcoming trial against Mladic will have "bigger political consequences than the arrest," a reference to the reconciliation between the former warring nations.

"His [Mladic's] arrest confirms that no one can count on impunity for war crimes," Mr Brammertz said. He also confirmed that steps are being taken to speed up the trial, as in the past several war crimes cases have taken years before finally coming to an end.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show
It's not easy being Professor Green: The rapper, the heiress and a drama made in Chelsea...

It's not easy being Professor Green

The rapper, the heiress and a drama made in Chelsea...
Hardcore, hard-wired: How the prevalence of porn is changing our everyday lives

How porn is changing our lives

It's everywhere - from pop videos to fashion magazines to the theatrical stage.
River Phoenix: the final reel

River Phoenix: the final reel

Twenty years after the actor's death, his last film is to be released
Facebook: The shares shenanigans

Facebook: The shares shenanigans

Investors are crying foul over the huge losses they incurred when the social network site floated on the stock market last week
Up and away – how '7 Up' went global

Up and away – how '7 Up' went global

As the last episode of Britain's '56 Up' airs, the first episode of '28 Up', from the former USSR, starts. Then there's the US, Japan, Germany...
You'll soon pick this up: Tuck into Bill Granger's fresh street food

Tuck into Bill Granger's fresh street food

It provides perfect party fare for some fun in the sun...
All to play for: How is Ukraine shaping up ahead of Euro 2012?

How is Ukraine shaping up ahead of Euro 2012?

Peter Popham casts his eye over the state of the Euro 2012 co-host ahead of the tournament.
Red or not, here they come: Artists reimagine the iconic telephone booth

BT ArtBoxes: Red or not, here they come

Artists reimagine the iconic telephone booth...
The Last Word: Premier bullies devise youth system bound to end in tears

The Last Word

Premier bullies devise youth system bound to end in tears