This Thursday July 13, 1995 file photo shows a young Muslim refugee from Srebrenica watching as other refugees pass in a UN armored vehicle as they arrive at a U.N. base 12 kms south of Tuzla, 100kms (60 miles) north of Sarajevo. They are among the more than 5,000 refugees from the U.N. safe haven of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, which was captured by Bosnian Serb forces, and who arrived in Bosnian Government controlled territory in the past 24 hours. The indictment against Ratko Mladic, who went on trial Wednesday May 16, 2012 at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, holds the former Bosnian Serb army commander “individually criminally responsible for planning, instigating, ordering and/or aiding and abetting the crimes charged in this indictment.” Mladic is charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. Between July 1995 and November 1995, Mladic participated in the “elimination” of the Bosnian Muslims in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica by killing the men and boys, and forcibly removing the women, young children and some elderly men. Some 7,000 people were killed which is the worst carnage in Europe since World War II(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)MIKE CORDER
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) – A judge suspended Ratko Mladic’s genocide and war crimes trial indefinitely Thursday after prosecutors failed to disclose thousands of documents to the former Bosnian Serb military chief’s defense team – a ruling that could delay the trial for months.
Presiding judge Alphons Orie said he was delaying the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal case due to “significant disclosure errors” by prosecutors, who are obliged to share all evidence with Mladic’s lawyers.
The announcement is a significant setback for the court in one of its highest profile cases, its final trial to focus on atrocities committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which left over 100,000 dead.
Orie said judges will analyze the “scope and full impact” of the error and aim to establish a new starting date “as soon as possible.” The presentation of evidence was supposed to begin later this month.