Mladic files request against re-opening of prosecution case

THE HAGUE - Ratko Mladic, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has requested that the prosecution's motion to re-open its case to present evidence about the Tomasica mass grave be denied as it would cause prejudice to his defence at this stage of the trial, the ICTY said in a statement on Thursday.

In the motion, filed on August 26, the prosecution said that it had learned of the mass grave in Tomasica, near Prijedor, in September 2013, requesting that the case be re-opened.

In the response to the prosecution's motion, Mladic said that he recognises the importance of the discovery of the Tomasica mass grave.

"The discovery and identification of the bodies of persons who died during the war in Bosnia plays an important role in the grieving and healing process for the families and communities," Mladic said in the request.

However, Mladic said that "at the current stage of the trial, the re-opening of the Prosecution's case would cause prejudice to the Defence."

"The delay caused by the re-opening would be unduly long; and much longer than expected by the Prosecution," the request said.

An adjournment of court would also be unavoidable if the case was to be re-opened, and this adjournment is unsuitable now that the defence is in the middle of presenting its case, Mladic said.

The delay would also be much longer that that proposed in the Radovan Karadzic case, in which a re-opening motion was denied, the request said.

The denial to grant a similar motion in the Karadzic case "provides additional reasons to deny the motion in the present case", the request said.

"The fact that the Prosecution did not submit the...