Ratko Mladic seeks to delay trial by calling on judge to be dropped

Mladic was arrested last year near Belgrade after more than a decade as a fugitive. He has refused to enter pleas, but denies wrongdoing. Judges have entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Orie in the past presided over the trial of Gen. Stanislav Galic, who was convicted of leading Serb troops who laid siege to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and unleashed a deadly hail of sniper bullets and artillery and mortar shells on the city.

Mladic’s lawyers argued that Orie’s involvement in that conviction means he would have “a strong personal interest to have his previous findings in the Galic proceedings remain intact.” They also highlighted several other cases involving the conviction of prominent Serbs in which Orie sat as a judge.

They also said that, before becoming a tribunal judge, Orie acted as a defence lawyer for a Serb suspect who became the first person convicted by the UN court, Dusko Tadic.

“There is an apparent and actual conflict of interest in Judge Orie sitting to hear the Mladic proceedings which are based in part on the same allegations of crimes for which his former client, Mr. Tadic was convicted,” the motion said.

There was no immediate reaction from the court to Friday’s filing.

Source: AP

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