Left Ill by Fugitive Life, Mladic Hopes to Avoid Hague

By DOREEN CARVAJAL
NYT

BELGRADE, Serbia — Life on the run has not been kind to Ratko Mladic, a fugitive in his own land from war crimes charges. His mouth droops sideways and his skin is bluish and mottled red, the pallor of poor hygiene, bad nutrition and self-imposed prison, according to his longtime friend and defense lawyer, Milos Saljic.

When Serbian investigators arrested the former general, 68, in his cousin’s house on Thursday they found $800 in cash and a sack of medicine, with prescription drugs for skin treatment and various maladies over the years that included two heart attacks and three strokes that at one point left him completely paralyzed, the lawyer said.

Bruno Vekaric, the deputy war crimes prosecutor, conceded that Mr. Mladic was receiving medicine, but that he “responds very rationally to everything that is going on.” Mr. Vekaric, the target of Mr. Mladic’s wrath in the first day of the extradition hearing on Thursday, said that the prisoner had already been examined by doctors and that he appeared to be moving his hand during the second 45-minute court hearing on Friday afternoon.

The haggard state of Mr. Mladic — who eluded Serbian authorities for more than 15 years — may offer him one more chance to evade a prison cell. His family and lawyer are now angling to seek a team of what they call “neutral” doctors who could evaluate him and deliver an opinion on whether his physical and mental health is fragile enough to place him in a hospital or nursing home.

(More here.)