Mladic's army pension 'unblocked'

Serbia has unblocked the pension of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army chief who was transferred to the UN war crimes court last week, Mladic's lawyer told AFP on Monday. The account to which his military pension of some 800 euros ($1,200) a month was being transferred had been frozen since 2005 while Mladic was on the run. "His son (Darko) already retrieved the sum of some 4.7 million dinars (49,000 euros, $72,000) some time last week," Mladic's family lawyer Milos Saljic told AFP by phone. The money had been accumulating in the account since the Serbian authorities froze it in 2005. Mladic formally applied for the funds to be released after his arrest May 26 in the Serbian village of Lazarevo after 16 years on the run. After it was unfrozen, Mladic "authorised his son to take the money on the account," Saljic said. The lawyer added that Mladic, who is due to stand trial on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his key role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities during the war in Bosnia, will continue to receive his monthly pension payment.