‘Butcher of Bosnia’ near death, say lawyers asking for early release
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-02/ratko-mladic-butcher-of-bosnia-war-crimes-hague-near-death/106634174?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
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Keep in mind lawyers always say their client is sick and close to dying. It does help no matter what. Often improving conditions in prison or getting house arrest. They always claim it’s months as that’s how you get early release. And it backfires for the judges when the person ends up living many more years in a cozy villa paid by some dictator. Lockerbie bomber who killed 259 civilians in Scotland got such an early release after he supposedly was months away from dying. He went to Libya to live in a lavish villa with his Gaddafi money. As a national hero. He spent 3 years in freedom this way.
Last year in June his lawyer demanded an early release as he had merely months to live. So clearly the lawyer was making up stuff and now parole boards don’t trust him.
Another thing is:
> Mladic disappeared in 1995 and was only tracked down in rural Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run. He went on trial at The Hague in 2012 and was convicted in 2017.
He ran away into Serbia and politicians, leaders, cops hid him for years until EU promised them so many billions they finally found enough legit cops that could track him down. Not all of Serbia is protecting war criminals. But it’s such a huge part that some have lived openly. A bit life mafia bosses in Italy. Hundreds or thousands of people may know about where they live yet don’t say anything.
And I guess Hague worries about what idol he is to some people in Serbia and Bosnia. He will be given a big house and he will be made into an icon. They all know this.