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• Lawyer says suspected war criminal had lymph node cancer
• Mladic could try to implicate Dutch in Srebrenica massacre
Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, is due to appear in front of an international court at The Hague at 10am on Friday to answer 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, amid questions over his health.
His arraignment in court 1 of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague gives the families of thousands of his army's victims their first clear look at a man who went on the run 16 years ago when he was first indicted for his alleged role in ethnic cleansing in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995: including the siege of Sarajevo, the Srebrenica massacre and the hostage-taking of UN personnel.
Mladic's long-awaited appearance in front of three judges – from the Netherlands, Germany and South Africa – promises an insight into his health problems, which are concerning prosecutors.
His lawyer, Milos Saljic, on Thursday claimed to have documents proving that the former general, now 69, had suffered lymph node cancer and was treated at a Serbian hospital in 2009. Previously he had said that Mladic could die before the trial; there had also been unconfirmed reports that Mladic had had two strokes.
Court officials said that since Mladic's entry into custody on Tuesday night, following his extradition from Serbia that day, he had been communicative for long periods and co-operative. He had undergone a battery of health tests to sort fact from rumour, officials said.
When faced with the charges Mladic could re-state his position that he does not respect the legitimacy of the court; he could enter a plea immediately or within 30 days, or he could refuse to respond to the charges and the court would then enter a plea of "not guilty" on his behalf.
However brief it is, Mladic's appearance looks set to test the extent of the Netherlands' anguish over its role in the 1995 killing of more than 7,000 people in Srebrenica, since Dutch soldiers acted as UN peacekeepers in a safe haven supposedly to protect the Muslim population.
Dutch soldiers, politicians and historians all stress that it is a bigger moment for the families of Bosnian Muslims killed by Mladic's Serb forces than for any Dutch person. However, the Netherlands has been haunted by guilt over the atrocity too. Its government resigned in 2002 over the issue, some soldiers have sought therapy, and the most senior commander of the Dutch forces in Bosnia was hounded out of the country into exile in Spain.
"We are attached to Mladic in that we are almost victims of the same genocide," said Liesbeth Zegveld, an Amsterdam lawyer who is representing the families of two victims of Srebrenica in the early stages of a criminal case against three leading Dutch military commanders.
"The military have a reason to feel they were dropped into a situation they were not prepared for," she added
Rene Jagt, a 37-year-old veteran of the 400-strong Dutch corp, was one of the many UN peacekeepers taken hostage by Mladic's forces. Jagt was among veterans who came out to see the former fugitive Mladic's arrival at prison this week.
There was little joy, although there was some satisfaction. "I didn't feel responsible at that moment because [it was Mladic] killing the people … It was not my war. But for people who have lost their husbands and children, for them [Mladic's arrival] is a big moment. For us soldiers, we have had a lot of negative press. Now with the capture of Mladic it is finished."
But not for everyone. The case Zegveld is bringing against Commander Thomas Karremans, Deputy Commander Rob Franken, and Berend Oosterveen, a personnel officer, has been filed on behalf of the families of Rizo Mustafic and Muhamed Nuhanovic, who were each taken from the Srebrenica safe-haven guarded by the Dutch and later found in mass graves. Karremans was famously photographed drinking a toast with Mladic.
State prosecutors are considering the claims that the three men were complicit in war crimes, genocide and murder, and have not decided whether to press charges.
The rehabilitation of Dutch soldiers and with it Dutch national self-esteem about the military has taken time, said David Barnouw, a researcher at the Dutch Institute for War Documentation, which produced a 2002 report into the role of the Dutch peacekeepers. "When it happened there was a sense in the Netherlands that there had been a big massacre and the Dutch soldiers had stood by and done nothing. TV showed pictures of them dancing and then pictures of dead bodies, and it was a big shock to the nation. There was an idea that our soldiers were cowards, only looking out for their own safety."
The report seemed to exonerate the soldiers but the Dutch government and military officials were blamed for failing to prevent the massacre. After this, the Dutch prime minister, Willem Kok, and the entire cabinet resigned.
"There is a feeling that this could be the end, the last stage of the Srebrenica issue," said Barnouw.
Mladic might not allow that and there are fears now that he will mount a defence that implicates the peacekeeping force.
"The attention around Mladic's case [in the Netherlands] has very much to do with the fact that people want to push their guilt onto him and get rid of it," said Zegveld. "But it doesn't really work. I expect if Mladic pleads not guilty and mounts a defence he will refer to the Dutch role and he may even call Karremans. He will make clear this was a joint liability."
If he does, any satisfaction at seeing justice done for the Bosnian Muslims could be complicated in the Netherlands by a deeply uncomfortable resurgence of guilt.