JURIST - Paper Chase: Serbia court rejects Mladic appeal of extradition to ICTY on genocide charges

[JURIST] The Serbia War Crimes Court Tuesday rejected an appeal by alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic [ICTY backgrounder; JURIST news archive] of the decision that he is medically fit for extradition [JURIST report]. Snezana Malovic, Serbia's justice minister, confirmed [Aljazeera report] that the 69-year-old Mladic was being transported to the UN detention facility in The Hague to face charges in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Milos Saljic, the lawyer representing Mladic, had filed an appeal [JURIST report] Monday seeking to block the extradition, arguing his health is too poor and seeking postponement until the court reviews the appeal, which formally requests that independent physicians, including cardiologists, neurosurgeons, orthopedists and gastroenterologists, be granted access to assess Mladic's condition. There have been no questions about Mladic's mental competence, as he told Saljic that he understands his circumstances and that he rejects the tribunal's authority.

Serbian authorities captured [ICTY press release] Mladic last week, ending a 16-year manhunt [JURIST report] for the former general colonel and commander of the army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mladic was one of the two remaining at-large war criminals sought by the ICTY, along with Goran Hadzic. Mladic faces charges [amended indictment, PDF] of genocide and crimes against humanity, including murder, political persecution, forcible transfer and deportations, cruel treatment and the taking of peacekeepers as hostages. He is most infamous for ordering the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the massacre of Srebrenica during the Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archives].