UN YET TO RESPOND AFTER MORE THAN TWO MONTHS TO REJECTION OF GENERAL MLADIĆ'S MEDICAL RELEASE REQUEST

BELGRADE, JULY 24 /SRNA/ - The defense team of General Ratko Mladić has been waiting for more than two months for a response to a letter it sent to UN human rights committees following The Hague’s latest rejection of his request to be allowed to travel to Serbia for medical treatment due to his serious health condition, the general’s son Darko Mladić told SRNA.

"We still have no response. In general, they are slow to reply, and it can take months. They should at least provide us with some answer," Darko Mladić said. He announced that his father would be visited in The Hague next week by Serbia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands and State Secretary Livija Pavićević, and on Friday, he will be visited by two of his closest wartime comrades and friends, one from Republika Srpska and one who now lives abroad. Darko Mladić said that The Hague authorities had not accepted any recommendations from doctors in Serbia regarding his father’s treatment and that they were "pushing ahead with their own approach" to his therapy. He and his youngest son spoke with the general today via video call. Darko says that he is in poor but stable condition. "We talked a little for half an hour. I am happy that his condition is stable now and that it does not get worse," Darko said. He noted that his father had also been visited over the past two weeks by priest Vojislav Bilbija, and that they had even managed to play a game of chess. He added that all these visits mean a great deal to the general. "Someone is always with him," Darko said. Regarding the making of a film about his father, Darko said that 95 per cent of the material has been recorded and that editing will begin once they obtain a computer. On May 14, the Hague Mechanism rejected the defense’s request for General Ratko Mladić to be released for medical treatment in Serbia due to his serious health condition. Immediately afterwards, the defense appealed to various UN human rights committees, which have so far not responded. The general has been in the detention hospital in The Hague since 2024, where he is receiving palliative care. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague has repeatedly rejected requests for General Mladić to be granted temporary release for medical treatment in Serbia.