BAD PROGNOSIS FOR GENERAL MLADIĆ BY DOCTORS IN THE HAGUE DETENTION CENTRE

BELGRADE, May 16 /SRNA/ – The legal team and family of General Ratko Mladić are considering possible next steps after doctors at the detention center in The Hague gave a dire prognosis, stating that he likely has only a few months left to live, his son Darko Mladić told SRNA.

He said that three weeks ago he visited his father at the detention hospital in The Hague and spoke directly with the medical staff. "I spoke with two doctors, and both confirmed their assessment that the general has only months left to live. They believe that he is essentially dying there. They are only administering treatment, but they do not expect him to live to the end of this year," said Darko Mladić. He stated that because of the above mentioned, General Mladić's family and legal team are considering what measures to take; the legal team will likely soon present a proposal. "Our Serbian doctors more or less agree that if the treatment continues like this, the general has little chance of surviving the end of the year, so we are already taking some steps regarding this," said Darko Mladić. He noted that he did not speak with Tribunal officials but with doctors at the Hague detention hospital who are with General Mladić daily. Darko Mladić says his father is mostly bedridden, can occasionally sit in a wheelchair for a short time only, and that the Hague doctors believe he is receiving "the best possible care," although their prognosis remains as they stated. He added that the family and legal team will publicly speak about the measures they propose when the time comes. Darko Mladić said that he spoke with his father by phone today and that he sounded somewhat better, although at times he cannot speak. General Ratko Mladić has been in the detention hospital in The Hague since April of last year, and due to his poor health, his family and defence attorneys have repeatedly requested that he be allowed treatment out the prison, but those requests have been denied. General Mladić has neurological, cardiovascular, and urological problems, which are progressively worsening and becoming more complicated. The former commander of the Main Staff of the Republika Srpska Army underwent surgery on January 8 last year in a Dutch hospital, during which a pacemaker was implanted, in the meantime, his kidneys have also failed.