Ratko Mladić's Request for Recusal of Judges Due to 'Bias' Rejected

THE HAGUE, (Patria) - The Mechanism for International Tribunals has rejected the request by the Defence of the former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) Ratko Mladić for the recusal of three judges from the appeals proceedings due to alleged bias, Birn reports.

Theodor Meron, President of the Mechanism – the legal successor of the Hague Tribunal – stated in his decision that Mladić's Defence submitted the request for recusal of judges to the Appeals Chamber, whereas it could only be submitted to the President of the court.

- The Appeals Chamber does not have the capacity to deal with this submission - Meron stated.

Defence lawyers Branko Lukić and Dragan Ivetić requested that Meron, as well as Carmel Agius and Liu Daqun, be excluded from Mladić's appeals proceedings because they are “biased”.

In separate submissions, Mladić's lawyers cited parts of judgments written by judges Meron, Agius and Daqun in which, in the lawyers' opinion, “unacceptable conclusions relating to Mladić” were reached.

Regarding Meron, it is noted that this judge presided over chambers that convicted Radislav Krstić and Zdravko Tolimir for genocide in Srebrenica, and that these decisions stated that Mladić “intended to kill Bosnian Muslims”, and that he had knowledge of the illegal activities of his subordinates.

Mladić's lawyers indicated that Agius was a member of the chamber that convicted Vujadin Popović, Ljubiša Beara, Drago Nikolić, Radivoje Miletić, Vinko Pandurević, Ljubomir Borovčanin and Milan Gvero, while Daqun participated in rendering the decision in the case against Vidoje Blagojević and Dragan Jokić.

The Tribunal sentenced Mladić, the former commander of the VRS, to life imprisonment in November last year, finding him guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Muslims and Croats throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorising the population of Sarajevo through prolonged shelling and sniping, and taking members of UNPROFOR hostage.

Mladić was acquitted of the charge of genocide in six other Bosnian municipalities.

Appeals against this verdict have been announced by both the Defence and the Hague prosecutors, and the proceedings are being conducted before the Mechanism.

In a new submission, Mladić's lawyers reiterated their request to lift the immunity from prosecution for the managers of the medical department of the Detention Unit, so that a lawsuit could be filed against them. Mladić's lawyers claim that their client does not receive adequate healthcare in the Detention Unit in Scheveningen.

Mladić has been in detention in The Hague since the end of May 2011, when he was arrested in Serbia.