A participant holds a photo of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic during a rally to protest against the arrest of Mladic in front of the Serbian embassy in Moscow
A participant holds a photo of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic during a rally to protest against the arrest of Mladic in front of the Serbian embassy in Moscow Reuters

A lawyer for accused war criminal Ratko Mladic claim their client was treated for cancer in a hospital in Belgrade Serbia two years ago, ahead of his first appearance in a UN court at The Hague in The Netherlands.

I have medical records showing that he was treated for lymphoma in 2009 in a Belgrade hospital, Milos Saljic told Agence France Presse.

A Belgrade newspaper, quoting Saljic, stated that Mladic had three stokes and two heart attacks, and spent four months at one clinic in Belgrade being treated for cancer.

Mladic, the former army chief of Bosnia, is facing 11 counts of genocide war crimes and crimes against humanity in the UN Court.

He is expected to plead to the charges tomorrow.

The former general was a fugitive from justice for fifteen years and has been accused of masterminding the horrific mass murder of 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica during the siege of Sarajevo in 1995.

However, Mladic’s family and attorney claim he is too ill to stand a trial and would not be able to answer questions relating to the charges.

According to reports, at Friday’s hearing, Mladic will be asked to identify himself and to discuss his health status.

If he enters a guilty plea to all charges, a trial will be waived and he will get a maximum a life sentence in prison.