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Mladic proves that he is alive

Has Ratko Mladic had a change of heart? Since his arrest last May, and extradition to the Hague, the former Bosnian Serb commander has taken every opportunity to demonstrate his contempt for the tribunal that has charged him with "double genocide." He has refused to stand when the judge enters the courtroom and angrily denounced ...

By Michael Dobbs

International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia

March 29, 2012, 5:09 PM

Has Ratko Mladic had a change of heart? Since his arrest last May, and extradition to the Hague, the former Bosnian Serb commander has taken every opportunity to demonstrate his contempt for the tribunal that has charged him with "double genocide." He has refused to stand when the judge enters the courtroom and angrily denounced the tribunal as a "NATO court" that has no right to try him. In his latest pre-trial appearance today, however, he sounded a little more conciliatory.

"I would like to improve my relationship with this court," he told Dutch judge Alphons Orie, at the end of today’s status conference, which was called to discuss scheduling matters prior to the start of the trial on May 14. "In [the] future, I will rise when you enter, I will bow, and will sit down when you tell me, not because I respect you so much, but because I would like to take part in this trial."

Mladic has repeatedly tussled with Orie during previous pre-trial appearances and was even thrown out of court on one occasion last year. In addition to his show of cooperation at the end of today’s proceedings, he also had a long list of complaints, ranging from inadequate computer time and his demand that witnesses against him should all appear in person in the court. He alluded frequently to his medical problems on the run, including at least two strokes.

"I want the camera to zoom in on me," he told the judge. "I want them to see that I am alive."

"Everyone who has been following these proceedings knows that you are alive." Orie responded.

While today’s hearing was devoted to procedural matters, there were also hints of a coming legal tussle over what the Mladic defense team has depicted as "a cast-iron alibi" for their client for July 14, 1995, as mass killings of detained Muslim males began in Srebrenica. Prosecutor Dermot Groome suggested that his investigators had found holes in Mladic’s claim that he was attending a wedding that day.

"I can tell you about the wedding, and I can tell you what sort of underwear I was wearing," Mladic countered. He later suggested that the wedding was irrelevant. "They don’t need to investigate whether I attended that wedding. I have attended hundreds of weddings in my life."

Mladic has proved unpredictable in the past — and it remains to be seen how long his change of heart will last.

Michael Dobbs is a prize-winning foreign correspondent and author. Currently serving as a Goldfarb fellow at the Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dobbs is following legal proceedings in The Hague. He has traveled to Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Belgrade, interviewed Mladic’s victims and associates, and is posting documents, video recordings, and intercepted phone calls that shed light on Mladic's personality. Twitter: @michaeldobbs