An international criminal tribunal has rejected the request for early release of Ratko Mladic, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War.
Aged 84, Mladic had requested release on humanitarian grounds, citing his deteriorating health. Detained in the United Nations detention unit in The Hague, he suffers from cognitive impairment and has been hospitalized several times in recent years.
In its ruling issued Thursday, the court acknowledged that the former general was in "the final stages of his life" and described his medical condition as "desperate." However, the judges determined that the care available in the Netherlands was sufficient and that no further treatment could be offered to him elsewhere.
"Mladic continues to receive comprehensive and compassionate care," the court said, adding that his detention was not worsening his health.
Ratko Mladic led the Bosnian Serb forces during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995, during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including for the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed.
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