The chief prosecutor for the U.N. war crimes tribunal has announced he is considering dropping some of the charges against Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic in order to speed up his case.

Serge Brammertz said Wednesday his prosecution team is looking at ways to accelerate the trial due to concerns about Mladic's failing health. Last week, judges at the Hague-based tribunal rejected Brammertz's request to split the charges into two separate trials, and he said Wednesday he would not appeal the court's ruling.

The chief prosecutor first wanted to try the 69-year-old Mladic for his alleged involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys, then for other war crimes during the 1992-to-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Brammertz had argued that two short trials rather than one long one would be more efficient, but the court did not agree.

Mladic was arrested in May and extradited to The Hague to face trial after 16 years on the run. The former Bosnian Serb military chief, whose health is deteriorating, was recently treated for pneumonia.