LUKIĆ: HAGUE TRIBUNAL CAN DEMONSTRATE IMPARTIALITY IN SERB CASES

BELGRADE, MAY 5 /SRNA/ – Defense lawyer Branko Lukić, a member of General Ratko Mladić's legal team, told SRNA that his experience with the Hague Tribunal does not give him optimism that the general will be granted release for medical treatment in Serbia, but that the defense submitted the request to give the court an opportunity to show it is not biased against Serbs.

"They are exponents of the politics that is in decline, but can still cause harm. That is exactly what they are doing now - causing as much harm as they can", Lukić said. He noted that former President of the Hague Tribunal Carmel Agius managed to secure changes to the rule allowing prisoners to be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. "In effect, they added another third to the sentences already imposed. In every way, they try to be as anti-Serb as possible. Every day they confirm to us that there is no justice there, only wrongdoing, and yet we are asking them to show mercy and release General Mladić", Lukić said. He added that he was glad when General Nebojša Pavković was released, but said he knew that would not have happened had they not been convinced he was dying. "He died three weeks after being released. The Hague simply respects nothing. When it comes to our people, all rules of international law have been trampled", Lukić said. He stressed that it is important to insist that the Hague Tribunal verdicts should not be used by any other international court. "The practice created at the Hague Tribunal has been rejected by all courts established afterward, as they recognized that the rules applied there are not legally sustainable. These are rules of force and injustice", Lukić stated. He assessed that the "legacy" of the Hague Tribunal is negligible and described the court as "a dead-end institution of international law". Lukić said he is in daily contact with the general`s son, Darko Mladić, and that most information about the general's health is received from the Hague with delays. He pointed out that Serbian doctors who traveled to examine General Mladić were not allowed to perform any invasive procedures. "They cannot even take his blood. They can only examine him with a stethoscope. They were not allowed to perform an ECG or an MRI, with the explanation that it is not in line with their protocols", Lukić said. On April 23, legal team of General Ratko Mladić submitted a request for conditional release on humanitarian grounds, citing his deteriorating health. On Saturday, May 2, General Mladić was transferred from the detention unit to a civilian hospital in the Hague due to a suspected stroke. As doctors did not confirm that he had suffered a stroke, he was returned to the detention hospital, and his condition is, according to his family, the worst so far. General Ratko Mladić suffered a stroke on April 10, and his already serious health condition has further deteriorated, as he has severe neurological, cardiovascular and kidney problems. Since 2024, he has been held in the detention hospital in the Hague, where he is receiving palliative care.