adminBoth sides say it was a clerical error, but defence lawyers say they will need another six months to go through the documents.
Dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia”, Mladic is charged with 11 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity over the 1992-1995 war in the Balkan state.
Judge Alphons Orie is still analysing the scope and impact of the disclosure error, citing “irregularities”. The trial has been years in the making.
The indefinite suspension will be heartbreaking for families of the 8 000 men and boys who were killed at the massacre of Srebrenica, for which Mladic is charged.
The suspension was announced by the presiding judge shortly after the prosecution described the horror of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II — which it says was orchestrated by Mladic.
Prosecutors say the mass killings were part of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in the 1992-95 Bosnian war that killed 100 000 people and left 2,2 million homeless.
“Mladic himself was on the ground and personally involved,” prosecuting counsel Peter McCloskey told the court, showing footage of the former general triumphantly entering Srebrenica and congratulating his men.
Mr McCloskey showed the court photographs of graves in Srebenica, saying: “This is an example of the horror created by Mladic.”
He said most military orders were given orally, but that certain “crucial” documents had survived and that former Mladic subordinates were willing to testify against him.
The court was shown video footage of the lead-up to the massacre and panicking civilians swamping United Nations trucks. — ABC/wires.
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