大象传媒

Live on World TV: Ratko Mladic and Fifa investigation.

| Friday, 5 May 2011 | 16:00 - 17:00 GMT

UPDATE: Ex-Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic has been declared fit to be extradited from Serbia to face trial in The Hague. Gen Mladic's legal team say he is in poor health and that they will appeal on Monday. They have requested that he be admitted to hospital over concerns about his health.

Do you think Mr. Mladic's health should be taken into consideration in relation to this trial? We hope you'll get in touch.

ORIGINAL POST:

Our first glimpse of Ratko Mladic following his arrest were TV pictures of him shuffling into court in Belgrade, apparently stooping and somewhat withered.

According to the BBC's John Simpson - who met him while covering the Bosnian war - he looked like an 'old, old broken man'.

Doctors are now assessing his physical and psychological condition as part of the extradition proceedings.

This is some of what his lawyer, Milos Saljic, says ...

The investigative judge tried to interrogate Ratko Mladic but he failed because he (Mladic) is in a difficult psychological and physical condition. It is difficult to establish any kind of communication with him.

If he's unable to communicate, and therefore to testify, is it possible to get any sort of satisfactory justice from proceedings against Ratko Mladic?

Or do you agree with smiling_suze, who tweets

Why on earth should it make any difference how old / ill Mladic is?! Sometimes human rights just goes too far! This man has to pay regardless of health!

Perhaps you think his physical state is symbolic of the fact that the authorities failed to catch up with him for 16 years.

Proceedings at the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague were never completed against former Serb President Slobodan Milosevic because he dropped dead in his cell - more than 4 years after his arrest.

Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch assesses it like this ...

"From any prosecutor's perspective, the passage of time is not a good thing. Witnesses die. Witnesses disappear. Memories fade. And in those ways the passage of time makes the prosecutor's burden heavier ... But in this instance, the office of the prosecutor at the Yugoslav tribunal undoubtedly made a tenacious effort to nail down everything that it felt it would need for an eventual trial."

Is it too late for justice in the case of Ratko Mladic?

Your comments

  1. Comment sent via SMS

    Steve, Melbourne, Australia. Justice must prevail, The Hague owes it to the families of all who were slaughtered by direction and approval by this murderer.

  2. Comment sent via SMS

    Fwd : He should have been shot like osama. Trying and jailing him is time and space wasting. Segun

  3. Comment sent via SMS

    About time he was nabbed

  4. Comment sent via unknown: 23057

    #whys Barbara is delusional @rosatkins #mladic @bbc_whys

  5. Comment sent via unknown: 23057

    You've heard of a rock & a hard place. We're between an olive tree & a sherry barrel for @大象传媒_WHYS 1730gmt

  6. Comment sent via SMS

    This cold-blooded mammal deserves no trial; let alone a fair one. Alphonso of Malaysia.

  7. Comment sent via SMS

    Though, he must face trial, the ICC should also investigate and bring to justice those committed atrocities in DRC where 6 millions lost their lives. From HELSINKI.

  8. Comment sent via unknown: 23057

    @大象传媒_WHYS I'm in Australia and the atrocities exhibited on these people are unimaginable in my country. But that's the problem...

  9. Comment sent via SMS

    Beckam Fikru - Why is this lady Barbra on ur show defending a monster?

  10. Comment sent via SMS

    Of course he should be tried. U said he was a broken man. I doubt it but he should be. Jan wortley

  11. Comment sent via SMS

    ANTHONY! Norway HE, who fight and run away. Lives to fight another day. Let him face the fight now in hague.

  12. Comment sent via SMS

    Mladic must simply be brought to the Hague.

  13. Comment sent via SMS

    Ratko just tried to protect his country and his people.Stefan greece

  14. Comment sent via unknown: 23057

    @大象传媒_WHYS think he should stand trial for the crimes he committed. Regardless or good health or not

  15. Comment sent via SMS

    He should apologise to the moslems and be locked up now. -Phillip Kimumwe- Uganda