Ratko Mladic is suffering from lymph node cancer, or lymphoma, his lawyer Milos Saljic told Serbian daily Press.

This was the reason for Mr Mladic’s admission to hospital in 2009, Mr Saljic says. Soon after the Bosnian Serb former general’s arrest for war crimes and genocide charges, his lawyer stated he had previously undergone chemotherapy in a Belgrade hospital. 

Sixty-nine year-old Mr Mladic appeared frail on arrest, raising doubts about his health. Critics say his lawyer’s story is merely a defence strategy and the cancer is a fabrication.

Ratko Mladic is currently in detention in The Hague. He awaits trial at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

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