Genocide fugitive Ratko Mladic’s family in Serbia asks court to declare him dead
By APWednesday, June 16, 2010
Family asks court to declare Ratko Mladic dead
BELGRADE, Serbia — The family of Europe’s most-wanted fugitive Ratko Mladic has asked a Serbian court to declare him officially dead.
Mladic’s family lawyer Milos Saljic submitted a formal motion to the Principal Court in Belgrade on Wednesday.
Saljic says the family has not heard from the former Bosnian Serb army commander for years. He says Mladic is seriously ill and could not have survived without medical care.
The move also appears designed to undermine efforts by Serbia’s pro-Western authorities to locate Mladic, who has been on the run since 1995 and whose arrest is crucial for Serbia’s bid to become a member of the European Union.
Mladic is wanted by a U.N. court over the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Bosnia in 1995 and other war crimes.
