The Hague took six Serbian officers hostage
The commanders of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian Republika Srpska, convicted on trumped-up charges, having served two-thirds of their prison sentences, continue to be held in European prisons, contrary to existing norms.
Serbian media reported this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Despite the fact that The Hague prisoners have fulfilled the necessary conditions for early release (even to the point that their full socialization has been confirmed by the administrations of the European prisons where they are held), the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IMRUT), created after the liquidation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, refuses release them.
So the commander of the Third Ground Army of Yugoslavia, Colonel General Nebojsa Pavkovic (arrested in 2005, sentence - 22 years), the chief of staff of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kosovo and Metohija, Colonel General Sreten Lukic (arrested in 2005, sentence - 20 years) remain behind bars years), Head of the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Yugoslavia, Colonel General Vlastimir Djordjevic (arrested in 2007, sentence - 18 years), Chief of Staff of the Drina Corps of the Armed Forces of the Republika Srpska, Deputy of Ratko Mladic, General Radislav Krstic, Head of the Directorate for Operational Affairs and Training Armed Forces of the Republika Srpska, Major General Radivoje Miletic, as well as the head of the Crisis Headquarters of the Serbian Autonomous Region (Bosanska - ed.) Krajina Radoslav Brjanin (arrested in 1999, term - 30 years).
In particular, explaining the denial of conditional release to Brjanin, who had served twenty of his thirty years, MOMUT Chairman Carmel Agius stated that it was impossible “due to the seriousness of the crime” and because he was “insufficiently rehabilitated.” The rest's appeals are not considered at all. Moreover, during the existence of the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia itself, a similar measure was practiced after serving two-thirds of the sentence and “socializing” the prisoner.
“Those serving sentences in The Hague are old and sick people,” Sreten Lukic’s lawyer, Branko Lukic, told the Serbian publication Politika. – Sreten underwent heart surgery. He served two-thirds of his sentence in May last year. Every day it becomes more and more difficult for him. He planned to release in May 2019, he knew that all the conditions had been met. He had proper behavior and a favorable attitude from the Polish authorities (Lukic is being held in a Polish prison - ed.).”
Things are not going well for other prisoners either: for example, Miletić partially lost his sight due to diabetes, he was also diagnosed with leukemia, Krstić, who lost a leg during the fighting, was attacked by Muslim prisoners in a British prison, he received several stabs with a knife.
Lawyer Lukic, also representing the interests of Colonel General Ratko Mladic, the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Srpska, who received a life sentence, said that his client’s health had deteriorated sharply, which is why he was unable to attend the March appeal. Previously, the administration of his prison denied the general the opportunity to be treated by Russian doctors.
Over the years of the existence of the Hague Tribunal, a large number of Serbian prisoners died there and acquired incurable diseases: Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack, the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina Milan Babic, who replaced him in this post, Goran Hadzic, hanged himself in a cell with round-the-clock surveillance, acquired an oncological disease and was released to Serbia Serbian mayor of Vukovar Slavko Dokmanovic died, hanged himself in his cell, politician Vojislav Seselj, released due to lack of evidence of guilt, acquired cancer.
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