The family of Serbia's long fugitive war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic is preparing a request to have him declared legally dead, the family lawyer said on Tuesday.

Such a declaration, if granted, would allow Mladic's wife to collect a state pension or sell his property. But since he has not been proven dead, it would not advance Serbia's European Union aspirations, on hold pending the arrest of Mladic.

Commander of Bosnian Serb forces in the 1992-95 Bosnia war, Mladic was indicted 15 years ago for genocide in the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

The chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, said earlier this month that he believes Mladic is in Serbia.

Authorities in the former Yugoslav republic say that they are doing everything they can to apprehend him.
Serbia last year applied for EU membership, but further progress is contingent on its arrest of two fugitives, Mladic and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, who is indicted for crimes against humanity.

Serbian officials said the family's legal move would not affect their search for the country's most wanted fugitive.

"We can even imagine the court after long deliberations approves their motion and the family regulates its property and inheritance issues," said Dusan Ignjatovic, director of the government's Office for Cooperation with the Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

"But as far as our cooperation with the tribunal is concerned, this means nothing because we either have to prove physically that he is dead or locate and arrest him if he is alive."

Mladic family lawyer Milos Saljic said the move to have Mladic declared legally dead had been driven by "persecution of the family".

He said that under Serbian law, a person could be declared dead if he or she was older than 70 and there was no information about the person for more than five years.

However, Mladic would turn 70 only in March 2012, which would complicate such legal proceeding.
Mladic's wife and their adult son and his two children live in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Declaring Mladic dead would allow the wife to collect his relatively high general's pension and the family to use his property and assets as they wish.

"It is best for the family. If he is declared dead, they can live peacefully," said a family friend who added he had not been in touch with Mladic himself in many years. "It is the advice of the lawyer....It is only an economic thing."

(Source: Reuters)