JOVANOVIĆ: HAGUE'S DOMINANT ANTI-SERB ORIENTATION REFLECTED IN ITS INHUMANE TREATMENT OF GENERAL MLADIĆ

BELGRADE, AUGUST 25 /SRNA/ - The dominant anti-Serb orientation of the Hague Tribunal is also reflected in its inhumane treatment of General Ratko Mladić, which will remain as an additional reason for distrust in such institutions that have proven to be political and vindictive rather than legal institutions, former FR Yugoslavia Foreign Minister Živadin Jovanović told SRNA.

"Recent history in general shows that the Hague Tribunal has acted not on the basis of law, justice and humanitarian principles, but on the basis of preconceived notions of Serb guilt for everything that happened in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s," Jovanović said. He stressed that this dominant anti-Serb orientation had manifested itself many times, and more recently through the inhumane treatment of former Chief of Staff of the Republika Srpska Army, General Ratko Mladić. "The Hague Tribunal's refusal to allow General Mladić to receive medical treatment outside the prison hospital and to be treated in a Serb hospital cannot be explained, let alone justified, in any way. This is, as far as I know, unprecedented - denying a helpless man regular medical care and assistance," Jovanović added. He said that prison authorities should not add aggravating circumstances while a person is serving a sentence. "Nothing can be added to his sentence while he is serving it, nor can his treatment be made worse beyond the normal standards of an institution such as the one where General Mladić is being held," Jovanović said. He stressed that all measures that could worsen General Mladić's condition must be ruled out, except for what was determined by his sentence. "It is incomprehensible, and the inhumane treatment of General Mladić by such an institution will remain on record as an additional reason for distrust in the Hague Tribunal and such institutions, which have proven to be political and vindictive rather than legal," Jovanović concluded. General Mladić's son, Darko, said that the Hague Mechanism had rejected a request for General Ratko Mladić to be released for medical treatment in Serbia and had begun to "lead him to his death," because they had stopped monitoring his blood pressure, conducting ECG tests and had discontinued his diabetes medication.