International judges will on Tuesday begin hearing an appeal by Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic against his life sentence for genocide over the Srebrenica massacre and other war crimes.
The two-day hearing in The Hague was delayed several times after Mladic, 78, needed an operation to remove a benign polyp on his colon and then because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mladic, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, was sentenced to life behind bars in 2017 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for his role in the bloody Balkans civil war in the 1990s.
This included genocide committed by his Bosnian Serb forces in the small eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in mid-1995, Europe's worst bloodshed since World War II, where some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered.
The defence will speak first at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals -- which deals with cases left over from now defunct tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The prosecution will follow.
Mladic will himself be allowed to speak for 10 minutes on Wednesday although it remained unclear if he would be either in court or appearing via video-link from his detention centre in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen.
Mladic had to be dragged out of the court in 2017 after an outburst in which he accused the judges of lying.
- 'Doesn't have the energy' -
Mladic's son Darko told AFP the former military chief had been unable to properly prepare for the appeal hearing because of his health.
"He doesn't have the energy needed for work of this kind and there are questions about how well his memory is working," Darko Mladic said.
"His lawyers haven't been able to visit him and so there hasn't been adequate communication... So in several aspects he hasn't been able to prepare."
Judges however last week rejected a fresh request by Mladic's defence team for a delay on health grounds.
About 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million others displaced in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which erupted as communal rivalries tore Yugoslavia apart after the fall of communism.
Mladic was the military face of a trio led on the political side by ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.
Haunting footage showed Mladic assuring people in Srebrenica they would be safe as his troops brushed aside Dutch UN peacekeepers, even as those troops were gearing up for the massacre.
The former general was captured in 2011 after years on the run.
Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in March 2006, suffering a heart attack before his trial had finished, while Karadzic is serving a life sentence for genocide in Srebrenica and other atrocities.
- 'Important event' -
Both the defence and prosecution have appealed against the 2017 verdict against Mladic, with prosecutors seeking to overturn Mladic's acquittal for genocide in several areas other than Srebrenica.
The "Mothers of Srebrenica", a group of women related to victims of the massacre who have for years protested outside court, will not attend the hearing for the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's the first time we haven't been to such an important event at the tribunal in The Hague," Munira Subasic, president of the main Mothers of Srebrenica association, told AFP.
She said she hoped there would be no further delays to the legal proceedings against Mladic because the tribunal "must not lose motivation, and must carry out its mission".
"We hope Mladic will be found guilty for genocide in other towns as well, not just those in Srebrenica."
AFP RELAXNEWS
Tue Aug 25 2020
Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic -- dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia -- was sentenced to life behind bars in 2017 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the Balkans civil war in the 1990s. AFPRelax file pic
Menteri Indonesia bincang isu pekerja migran dengan rakan sejawat dari Malaysia
Fauziyah harap Steven akan membawa penambahbaikan kepada dasar berkaitan tenaga kerja Indonesia.
Pahang peruntuk RM1.5 juta bantuan tunai bakal jemaah haji
Sebanyak 1,588 jemaah haji Pahang menerima sumbangan 'duit poket' berjumlah RM750 seorang bagi membantu meringankan beban bakal haji dalam melakukan persiapan melaksanakan rukun Islam kelima itu.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Pengundi jangan mudah percaya taktik fitnah - Ramanan
Ramanan berkata pengundi perlu lebih berhati-hati, dan sentiasa menyemak fakta apabila mendengar kempen politik yang dilakukan pihak lawan.
KEDA berhasrat tanam padi wangi, padi huma tahun ini
Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Kedah (KEDA) berhasrat membangunkan tanaman padi wangi dan padi huma di beberapa kawasan pertanian dalam wilayahnya, tahun ini.
Mesyuarat perundingan Enam Pihak Arab bincangkan perkembangan di Gaza
Mesyuarat perundingan Jawatankuasa Enam Pihak Arab itu membincangkan perkembangan serangan Israel ke atas Semenanjung Gaza.
Chegubard didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen KL esok - Peguam
Badrul Hisham Shaharin atau dikenali Chegubard akan didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen Kuala Lumpur esok atas pertuduhan memfitnah dan menghasut.
Pulau Pinang, kerajaan pusat bekerjasama tarik pelaburan semikonduktor
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang akan bekerjasama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk meneruskan usaha menarik pelaburan dalam sektor semikonduktor, termasuk segmen reka bentuk litar bersepadu (IC) di negeri itu.
Rakyat Malaysia di Jordan jadi duta produk PMKS negara
Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi Datuk Ewon Benedick menyarankan rakyat Malaysia yang menetap di Jordan supaya memainkan peranan sebagai “duta” untuk mempromosikan produk perusahaan mikro kecil dan sederhana (PMKS) SERTA koperasi negara.
Mohamed Khaled tiba di Indonesia, dijadual bertemu Prabowo
Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin tiba di Jakarta hari ini untuk lawatan kerja rasmi sulung beliau ke Indonesia sejak memegang jawatan itu.
SPRM mohon maklumat dari Jerman
Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) memohon maklumat terkini daripada pihak berkuasa Jerman mengenai dana bon 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) yang dipercayai digunakan untuk membeli kereta mewah di negara itu pada 26 Okt 2022.