ICTY indefinitely suspends trial of Serbian Hadzic

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or ICTY, announced on Tuesday the “indefinite” suspension of the trial of Serbian former general Goran Hadzic because he has brain cancer.

The decision, which was taken on March 24 but announced on Tuesday, is based on the fact that Hadzic is unable to continue the trial opened against him in Oct. 2012 on charges over his role in the murder of civilians taken from Vukovar hospital in northwestern Croatia in 1991.

The diagnosis of Hadzic was not made public in order to protect his privacy, but the court explained that the medical reports suggest the health status of Hadzic has deteriorated to the extent that he cannot “communicate effectively” with his lawyer.

The court also revealed that doctors have expressed concerns about the ability of Hadzic to maintain his focus, physical strength, shortterm memory and speedy recall of information, in addition to suffering dizziness and need to take naps repeatedly to regain energy.

Hadzic was a leader of the selfproclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina during the early 1990s.

He was the last suspect wanted by the International Criminal Court after the arrest of former Bosnian Serb army chief, Ratko Mladic, last May.