PETRONIJEVIĆ: ONLY UN SECURITY COUNCIL CAN ORDER SANTANA TO RELEASE GENERAL MLADIĆ

BELGRADE, MAY 15 /SRNA/ – Attorney Goran Petronijević told SRNA that only the UN Security Council can order the president of the Hague Mechanism, Graciela Gatti Santana, to make a decision on the early release of General Ratko Mladić from prison on humanitarian grounds.

Petronijević said that urgent action should now be taken toward the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Committee, adding that General Mladić's defence team, together with his son Darko Mladić, has already undertaken the proper steps in that direction.

He warned that the Mechanism's decision not to release the general changes the nature of his sentence from life imprisonment to a death sentence, noting that US President Donald Trump had ordered the Hague Mechanism to be removed from the US budget.

Petronijević stated that everything that could be done at the state level has already been done.

"Serbia's Justice Minister Nenad Vujić has already spoken with Santana and obviously it had no effect. The attitude they have toward General Mladić is an attitude toward Serbia and toward the Serbs," Petronijević said.

He assessed that General Mladić is a victim of several overlapping factors and that the reasons for rejecting his release are not only political, but may also involve personal and staffing-related issues within the Mechanism.

"Mladić's sentence is life imprisonment, not a death sentence. I have the impression that it would be a problem for them if he dies there after all this, and it will be a problem. According to them, it is an even bigger problem to transfer him to the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, allow him to recover somewhat, and live for a few more months. Ideally, if they could, they would release him only for him to die somewhere on the flight from Amsterdam to Belgrade," Petronijević said.

The Hague Mechanism rejected General Mladić defence team's request for releasing him for medical treatment in Serbia due to his serious health condition, claiming that he is under the supervision of "top specialists" and receiving "all necessary care".