THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL VIOLATES UN RULES; THERE IS NO REASON FOR GENERAL MLADIĆ NOT TO BE RELEASED FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT

PALE, APRIL 16 /SRNA/ - The Creators of Republika Srpska Association stated that there is no valid reason for General Ratko Mladić not to be released from detention in The Hague for medical treatment in Serbia, and that the tribunal violates UN rules regarding the treatment of persons detained by the Hague court.

The Association emphasized that the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, the successor of the Hague Tribunal, should stop the inhumane treatment of General Mladić, whose health is seriously compromised. "We are not asking for a gesture of mercy, but only respect for UN rules that this court is obliged to follow," the Association told SRNA. They remind that those who founded Republika Srpska at the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH in 1992, together with the army led by General Ratko Mladić, have repeatedly warned the domestic and international public about the hypocritical legal and medical practice of the Hague Tribunal toward the General, who is seriously ill. "So far, this has been a game of broken telephones between the family, lawyers, our domestic medical teams, Serbian officials, the public, and the arrogant so-called residual mechanism of the Tribunal," the Creators of Republika Srpska Association stated. They concluded that the final result of this formal-legal torture is the current terminal condition that irreversibly destroys Mladić both mentally and physically. The Association emphasized that it is paradoxical but true that the tribunal, established by the UN, is violating established UN rules regarding the treatment of persons detained by the Hague court. "Above all, these are the so-called Mandela Rules, which provide for the urgent release or transfer of seriously ill prisoners to hospitals closest to their place of previous residence to receive adequate medical care," the Association emphasized. They added that all of this is being completely ignored, not only in the case of General Ratko Mladić, but also in the cases of others who are being held in European prisons. "One of the imposed conditions for their early release is so-called repentance, that is, an admission of guilt for what they, as patriots, were obliged to do, namely, to defend their people from an enemy and destruction," the Association stated. At the same time, they pointed out that the release of Muslim, Croat, and Albanian perpetrators of crimes against Serbs in the past war demonstrates the extent of double legal standards of the Hague Tribunal, as well as courts that follow its practice. General Ratko Mladić recently suffered a mild stroke and is now in a very serious condition, his son Darko Mladić told SRNA yesterday. Mladić has suffered several strokes and has serious cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, neurological damage, and kidney problems.