No autopsy on Mladic: UN Mechanism entrusts internal inquiry to judge Bonomy

On August 29, 2026, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals announced that Dutch authorities, after initiating the procedures provided for under national law, confirmed that there will be neither a criminal investigation nor an autopsy into the death of Ratko Mladic. On the internal front, the body’s president, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, has appointed Judge Ian Bonomy to establish the circumstances of the death. Bonomy arrived in The Hague and on August 28 began his work with a visit to the United Nations Detention Unit and the prison hospital.

We wrote about this case on August 28: in that piece we noted that the cause of death had not been disclosed and that political reactions between Sarajevo and Banja Luka were already unfolding in the absence of clinical data. Today’s statement changes the procedural picture, not the informational one: the Dutch decision closes off the path to an external forensic examination, while the only inquiry underway remains the one ordered by the body that had the detainee in custody. On the content and timing, the Mechanism merely states that “the inquiry is ongoing and further details remain confidential for now” (transl. from English).

It must be stated clearly where this information comes from. The reports on the exclusion of the autopsy and the appointment of Bonomy trace back to a single source, the Mechanism’s press release: the Serbian newspapers Espreso and B92 and the Russian agency Sputnik Srbija reproduce its text without adding their own corroboration. This is a primary institutional source — the body directly involved — but no independent confirmation is available at this time, either regarding the assessments made by Dutch authorities or the criteria by which they ruled out the autopsy.

The day’s second piece of information concerns a distinct matter: the fate of the body. Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić stated over the weekend to Serbian media that Belgrade has made the necessary arrangements for transport, but that neither the government nor the family have received any indication of timing. “We are ready to receive the body as soon as we have information” (transl. from Serbian), Vujić said. The Mechanism, for its part, states that it is not in a position to indicate a date for the handover. It follows that the funeral in Serbia, which has been publicly discussed for days, has no timeline whatsoever.

The emerging picture has two concrete consequences. The first is that, in the absence of an autopsy, the only document intended to establish how the death occurred will be the outcome of the internal inquiry entrusted to Bonomy, whose publication has been neither announced nor promised. The second is that the body remains in The Hague indefinitely, and every subsequent step — transport, funeral — depends on a decision by the UN body whose timing has not been disclosed.

As of August 29, three matters therefore remain without public answer: the cause of death, the conclusion date of the internal inquiry, and the day on which the body will be handed over. On the last point, the Mechanism has explicitly stated that it cannot provide any indication.

Sources: Espreso; B92; Sputnik Srbija (Russian state media outlet, cited for attribution); Glas Srpske.