MECHANISM TO RELEASE GENERAL MLADIĆ, ANY OTHER DECISION EQUIVALENT TO DEATH SENTENCE

SARAJEVO, MAY 14 /SRNA/ – Lawyer Milan Petković told SRNA that the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague should approve the request for the release of General Ratko Mladić from prison on humanitarian grounds, because any other decision would amount to retaliation equivalent to a death sentence.

Petković said that although he is not overly optimistic, he still hopes the Mechanism will show enough professional dignity to accept the justified request submitted by Mladić's defence team, despite Hague judges' previous unprofessionalism. "If they were to leave him to continue serving his sentence, that would amount to retaliation equivalent to a death sentence, which no longer exists anywhere in international law or local legislation," Petković stressed. He stated that persons serving prison sentences have the right to treatment consistent with human dignity, although, unfortunately, "international law does not recognize the need for humanity". Petković recalled that Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the UN, pointed during a session of the United Nations Security Council to inhumane conditions in which the first president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and General Mladić are serving their sentences, stating that Mladić should be granted early release, although authorities in The Hague apparently do not share that view. Asked how significant the Russian ambassador's appeal before the Security Council was, given that the Hague Tribunal was an ad hoc court established by the UN, Petković assessed that officials in The Hague act as they are accountable to "some other powers". "They behave as if they are not accountable to the UN, but to other powers, to certain influential figures who want to shape history in particular and impose their own version of justice," said Petković, who is also a member of the Serb People Caucus in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. For that reason, he says, it is important that the voices of other countries, above all permanent members of the Security Council such as China and Russia, are also heard.