Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has arrived at a remand centre in Scheveningen near The Hague. The 69-year-old former general was taken from Rotterdam-The Hague Airport to the remand centre after nine o'clock in the evening. 

Mladic is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and other crimes during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. He will face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

His plane from Belgrade landed shortly before eight o'clock on Tuesday evening. All other flights to the airport, which is usually used for package holiday flights, were cancelled. The Falcon 50 jet was taxied into a hanger with Mladic still in the plane. Just after nine, two helicopters and four black cars left the airport for the prison. It's unknown which vehicle he was in. He has now been officially handed over to the Tribunal's authorities.

At least 100 journalists and cameramen had lined the road outside the prison in Scheveningen. Members of the public also waited outside the prison gates hoping to catch a glimpse of Mladic's arrival.

Earlier in the day, a Serbian court ruled that Mladic was fit to be extradited to the ICTY. His family claimed he is too ill to be face trial in The Hague.

The former Bosnian Serb general is held responsible for ordering the mass murder of 8000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian War. He is also thought to be partly responsible for the siege of the capital Sarajevo. Mladic escaped capture for 16 years.

(rk/nc/kh)

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