Ratko Mladic makes his first appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal on June 3, 2011 in The Hague.

Story highlights

Mladic did not collapse, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia says

He had pre-existing health conditions and is receiving treatement, the tribunal says

He is charged with genocide and other crimes over the massacre at Srebrenica

Nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed there in Europe's worst masscare since WWII

CNN  — 

Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic is suffering health problems, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said Tuesday.

The court, however, denied media reports Mladic had collapsed, and refused to comment on reports he had pneumonia.

“Mladic was transferred to the Tribunal with a series of pre-existing medical conditions for which he is receiving treatment. The Tribunal continues to provide Mladic, as any other detainee, with the best possible medical care and attention available in The Netherlands,” spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said in a statement.

Mladic, wanted in connection with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, Bosnia in 1995, among other crimes, was captured in May after 15 years in hiding.

He is 69 and told the tribunal in June that he was “gravely ill.”

Prosecutors want to try the former general in two separate cases, they said in August – once over the Srebrenica massacre and once for spreading terror in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and for taking UN personnel hostage.

Mladic faces charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war in both cases, prosecutors said in an August 17 statement.

Mladic led Bosnia Serb forces in the civil war that broke out in Bosnia-Herzegovina when Yugoslavia dissolved in the early 1990s.

More than 200,000 Muslims and Croats died in the 1992-95 civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including nearly 8,000 slaughtered at Srebrenica – Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.

Mladic has been a combative witness at the ICTY.

At a July 4 appearance, Mladic refused to enter a plea, demanded new lawyers and repeatedly interrupted the judge until he was removed from the court.

The case is now in pre-trial hearings.