FILA: TRIBUNAL DOES NOT FOLLOW INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS, BUT IS GUIDED BY POWER

BELGRADE, APRIL 15 /SRNA/ – Lawyer Toma Fila has said in a statement to SRNA that the Hague Tribunal is not guided by international law, but by the law of the stronger, citing the situation of General Ratko Mladić, who is in detention in very poor health.

"General Mladić is in a very serious condition, but they want to kill him. As in the case of /former president Radovan/ Karadžić, they do not allow /convicted Serbs/ to be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence, because they demand that they admit guilt and show remorse, which they did not do /for the crimes they were charged with in The Hague/, nor should they have," Fila says.

The prominent lawyer added that the Hague Tribunal does not adhere to international conventions on the protection of the rights of convicted persons.

He said no one believed that the tribunal had been established to uphold international law, and that it is widely understood to be a product of the law of the stronger.

Fila noted that he had previously told this to then-President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević, who later died at the Hague Tribunal.

"Because the tribunal was created because of Milošević, and then it expanded…," Fila says.

He reminded that international law had effectively been undermined as early as 1999, with NATO's bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without a UN Security Council decision, after which, he said, actions by the stronger side came to be seen as the norm.

"If rules were followed, they would have to allow him to die in peace in his homeland," Fila added.

General Ratko Mladić recently suffered a minor stroke and is now in very serious condition, his son Darko Mladić told SRNA earlier.

The general has suffered multiple strokes and has serious cardiovascular conditions, high blood pressure, neurological damage, and kidney problems.