Relatives of fugitive Serbian war crimes suspect say they have had no contact with him for about seven years

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

The family of the fugitive Serbian war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has filed a request for him to be legally declared dead.

Milos Saljic, the Mladic family's lawyer, said the motion was submitted to Belgrade's first municipal court "based on the fact that the family has had no information nor contacts with Mr Mladic for about seven years and that he was a very sick man".

Mladic was indicted 15 years ago for genocide in the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

The European Union has made his arrest a key condition of further progress in Serbian membership.