The judge presiding over the case against against alleged Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladić has allowed the prosecution to partially alter the indictment against him. The prosecution moved to alter several geographic locations and time frames mentioned in the document on 10th May. Judge Alphons Orie granted the motion in part.
The judge allowed for the counts against Mladić to be reduced from 15 to 11 and considered that the early stage of proceedings against Mladić meant that this would not prejudice the general’s ability to adequately prepare his defence. The judge also ruled that public disclosure of the prosecution’s supporting material would not be in the interests of justice.
Mladic was arrested in Serbia in the early hours of Thursday 26th May 2011. He was indicted in 1995 by the Office of the Prosecutor for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the 1992 to 1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The indictment lists a number of war crimes including the shelling and confinement of civilians, genocide, systematic rape, plunder and destruction of sacred sites.
Mladić will be transferred from Serbia to The Hague, following the completion of relevant judicial proceedings required by Serbian law. The former general is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Statute which guarantees the universally recognised right to a fair trial.
The arrest of Mladić leaves Goran Hadžić as the only remaining fugitive out of a total of 161 indictees. Proceedings have concluded against 126 persons and are currently ongoing for 34 accused.
To read the original indictment against Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadzić click here: http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/437F8109-7A72-4BC7-AC82-93AAE963FA1A/249548/373706.pdf
