Goran Hadzic in the courtroom

The Trial Chamber in the case against Goran Hadzic has granted the prosecution’s motion and has ordered the Registrar to appoint two experts who will examine the former prime minister of SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem and evaluate his health. Goran Hadzic’s trial has been adjourned since 20 October 2014 because of his health problems, which have not been specified.

The decision notes that the Trial Chamber has been informed about Hadzic’s health problems. According to the reports from the Detention Unit, the accused has been receiving treatment which should take 16 weeks to complete. Hadzic has not waived his right to be present during his trial and the hearings will not resume until at least the beginning of February 2015.

The Trial Chamber has ordered the experts to submit as soon as possible a report on Hadzic’s current medical condition and his ability to attend hearings and participate in the proceedings during or after the medical treatment. Also, the experts should assess to what extent and in what way Hadzic might be able participate in the trial: four or five days a week, for five hours a day, in shorter sessions or by following the trial via video link from the Detention Unit.

The judges have also ordered the Registrar to provide the experts with Hadzic’s medical records so that they can produce a written report in cooperation with the Detention Unit staff, and to submit it as soon as possible to the Trial Chamber.

Before the trial was adjourned, the defense case was in progress. Defense witnesses were contesting the charges of persecution, deportation, abuse, wanton destruction and looting of property, extermination, murder, detention and cruel treatment. The crimes Hadzic is charged with were committed at the Ovcara farm, in Velepromet in Vukovar, in Erdut, Dalj and Borovo Selo, as well as in Serbia – at farms in the villages of Stajicevo and Begejci, in the JNA military barracks in Zrenjanin and in the military prisons in Sid and Sremska Mitrovica.

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