GUTERRES TO BE TOLD MLADIĆ SHOULD BE ALLOWED TREATMENT IN SERBIA

BELGRADE, MAY 21 /SRNA/ - Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Macut told SRNA that Justice Minister Nenad Vujić will inform UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council in June of Serbia's position that General Ratko Mladić should be allowed to continue medical treatment in Serbia.

Macut said Vujić would travel to the UN, where he would present this position directly to the Security Council, expressing hope that the appeal would be met with understanding.

"I asked him to convey to both the UN secretary-general and the Security Council that Serbia's position is that Mladić should continue treatment within Serbia's healthcare system under highly controlled conditions that Serbia is fully capable of ensuring", Macut said.

He added that he hopes there will be understanding for enabling Mladić to receive such medical supervision.

"We remain constantly responsible toward Mladić in both the humanitarian and healthcare sense", Macut stressed.

Macut noted that Serbia is deeply concerned about General Mladić's health condition, reminding that he and Minister Vujić had sent a letter to the Hague Mechanism regarding the matter, but that the judicial institution rejected the request, stating that the situation could be managed in The Hague by Dutch medical personnel and institutions.

"However, as we have seen in the previous period, Mladić’s health condition has deteriorated very intensively. He has been going through and continues to go through periods of weakening of the neurological system and constant relapses of his underlying illness, which is why we are very concerned about his health condition", Macut emphasized.

He pointed to humanitarian considerations and the basic UN human rights conventions, as well as the principle that detainees and prisoners should also have the right to medical treatment.

"We believe that the continuation of his monitoring and treatment, under conditions prescribed by international conventions, can also be carried out in Serbia. That has been our intention and we will continue in that direction", Macut said.