The Hague (ANTARA News/AKI) - Wartime Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, indicted of genocide and war crimes, is not terminally ill, the United Nations war crimes tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said on Wednesday.

Mladic, 68, was arrested on 26 May in the village of Lazarevo, north of Belgrade, after sixteen years on the run. He was transferred to The Hague tribunal for trial. His lawyers say he had suffered several strokes and was too ill to stand the trial.

"What I can say about this claims, according to which he is terminally ill, or serious illness, is that the doctors in the detention unit according to rule must inform (the court) on any indication that the life is in danger," Jelacic told a press conference in The Hague.

"Until now nothing similar has been reported relating to Mladic, though he's been subject to medical checkups," Jelacic said. However, medical tests on Mladic will continue, she added.

In his first appearance in court last week, Mladic said he was 'gravely ill' and refused to enter a plea to the charges. His next appearance in court was scheduled for 4 July. He said, however, that the charges against him were 'abominable'.

Mladic and wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic have been accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Bosnian Serb forces during 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

The indictment centres on a massacre of some 7,500 Muslim men and boys in eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995 and the 44-month siege and shelling of Bosnian capital Sarajevo in which some 12,000 people were killed.

"As you may have concluded by his appearance in the court on Friday, it seems that he (Mladic) had neglected his health during last years in hiding," Jelacic said.

(T.A045/C/H-AK/H-AK) (*)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
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