The Appeals Chamber of the UN criminal tribunal (MICT) in The Hague rejected a demand to exempt three judges alleged to have been biased against Bosnian Serb war-time military chief Ratko Mladic.

Mladic’s lawyers filed motions seeking the disqualification of Judges Theodor Meron, Carmel Agius and Liu Daqun, alleging that they were biased against their client.  

In his written explanation, MICT Appeals Chamber Presiding Judge Meron said the motion had been filed wrongly to the Appeals Chamber when it should have been filed with the MICT President.  

Lawyers Branko Lukic and Dragan Ivetic filed three separate motions, quoting parts of judgements which they said included “unacceptable conclusions about Mladic”.  

They also filed a motion to lift the immunity from prosecution for the heads of the detention unit medical department so that they can be sued for not providing Mladic with adequate care since he arrived at the facility in Scheveningen in May 2011.  

Mladic was sentenced to life in prison after having been found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, the persecution of Moslems and Croats, terror tactics against the population of Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR personnel hostage.