Mladic is dead, family tells tribunal

The family of the Bosnian Serb war-time commander Ratko Mladic is seeking to bring the search for the genocide suspect to an end by having him declared legally dead.

In a move that they said they hoped would draw a line under seven years of doubt, and which public officials dismissed as a mockery of state institutions, the family's legal team announced yesterday that they would put their demand to the Serbian authorities within days.

Lawyer Milos Saljic told Belgrade B92 TV that the family wants this because of the "freezing of his pension and property and harassment the family is exposed to".

Mladic is being hunted by the international war crimes tribunal for the massacre of more than 8000 Muslim men and boys after the fall of the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica. The crime, committed by the Bosnian Serb Army in July 1995, remains the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II.

- INDEPENDENT