Darko Mladic: I fear dad's true health status is covered up; instead of reports guards tell about it

Photo: MARTIN MEISSNER / AFP / Profimedia

Darko Mladic, the son of Serb General Ratko Mladic who has been sentenced to life in prison by The Hague tribunal, tells Telegraf.rs that he is worried that his father's actual health condition is being covered up. To support this is the fact that they learned from the general that he had a colonoscopy because of a colon problem, and that he has to undergo surgery, while the family and the defense team have not been given a report about that or about a biopsy that has also been done - instead the prison services described what has been going on in their own words.

Recommended

Today, the daily Novosti reported that General Mladic has to undergo surgery, citing information published on The Hague-based Mechanism's website. It's a filing by his defense who reacted to the latest information about the general's health and the medical examinations he has had. Currently, this report is not available on the Mechanism's website.

Referring to this, Darko tells Telegraf.rs that the Hague services mentioned in one report that the general's cognitive abilities are mpaired, and as his son points out, these services have now revealed for the first time that Mladic had a stroke in 2018, that had not been reported.

Darko said in an interview with our portal last week that Ratko's condition had deteriorated, but could not talk about the diagnoses, and now he explains why that was the case.

"We spoke, and I told you that his condition was complicating, but I could not give you any further statement because we had a problem that still exists. From December on, they have not given us any medical records. We had information from the general about what was going on, that he had problems, that he was taken for a colonoscopy. Then we asked them, but they did not give us (the documentation), so it was only in February that they started to disclose it," says Mladic, adding that, even so, not all the documentation has been handed to them:

Photo: Tanjug/AP

"This is obviously only a part of the documentation and it's obvious that once again they didn't give us everything. They didn't give us the colonoscopy report, the biopsy report, the x-rays that have been done, instead the prison services described it in their own words. This is not how medical records should be submitted. They have to give use all those documents. The owner of those documents is the general, not them."

Because of all this, Mladic's defense asked on Friday to halt the process and determine General Ratko Mladic's actual health condition.

"We are concerned that they are in fact covering up his real state. The defense for that reason in Friday's filing called for the process to be halted, to determine General Mladic's actual condition in terms of the surgery and his feeble state. They have now mentioned for the first time in one report that he has impaired cognitive ability. The question now is to what extent it is impaired, and whether he can participate further in the process. In addition, for the first time, they disclosed in the report, as we had guessed based on his medical condition, that he had a stroke in 2018, which they did not report to us," Darko Mladic told Telegraf.rs.

When the defense submitted its filing on Friday it also produced one version for the public, but, as the general's son says, the tribunal's secretariat tried to stop it. Still, it remained on the site and reached the public.

"The bottom line is that they are opposed to us disclosing his medical records but have no right to that and have even less right to deny us his medical records. This behavior is scandalous, first hiding the documentation from us and then trying to prevent us from publishing it," Mladic said.

Asked whether there was now a better chance of Ratko Mladic getting transferred and treated in the hospital, Darko Mladic said:

"We are waiting for the council's response, we requested that our medical team examines him. We'll see what the answer will be."

(LJ.R. - lj.racic@telegraf.rs)