Bosnian Serb general Mladic's early release denied by UN court
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Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic stands prior to the pronouncement of his appeal judgement at the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in The Hague, Netherlands June 8, 2021. Jerry Lampen/Pool via REUTERS/File
AMSTERDAM, May 14 (Reuters) - A U.N. war crimes court said on Thursday it had denied a bid for early release by Ratko Mladic, the 84-year-old Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, who had cited his deteriorating health.
Mladic is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, and is currently held in the U.N. detention unit in The Hague.
The general filed a motion for early release on humanitarian grounds, the court said last month, because he is in a state of "advanced, irreversible medical decline".
The court in its ruling said that Mladic is indeed in "the final stages of his life", as it called his situation "dire".
But it also said that the conditions at the detention centre ensured his maximum comfort, while the detention itself did not exacerbate the situation.
"There is no additional treatment available elsewhere that is unavailable in the Netherlands," the court concluded as it denied the request.
"Mladic continues to receive comprehensive and compassionate treatment from qualified doctors, nursing staff, and prison staff."
Mladic suffers from cognitive impairments, and has been hospitalised numerous times in recent years, according to earlier court documents and hearings.
He led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's war, part of the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.
Mladic was convicted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including terrorising the civilian population of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, and the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys taken prisoner in the eastern town of Srebrenica in 1995.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by William Maclean)
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