Former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic has been transferred to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague from Serbia, 16 years after the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by troops under his command forced the West's hand in the Bosnian war.

Tweet

The transfer to The Hague came the same day judges received and rejected Mladic's appeal to stop the handover on the grounds that the 69-year-old is not mentally and physically fit to stand trial.

Mladic is charged with atrocities committed by Serb troops during Bosnia's 1992-5 war, including the notorious Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity against civilians in Europe since World War II.

Emotional
Mladic's lawyer Milos Saljic visited him in his jail cell in the afternoon and said he was very emotional during what he called a farewell visit by his wife and sister. They brought him a big suitcase with clothing he will need in The Hague, Saljic said.

Mladic was arrested Thursday in a village north of Belgrade after 16 years on the run, looking worn and dishevelled. In addition to the appeal, Saljic had asked for a team of doctors to examine Mladic, who is said to have suffered at least two strokes.

Prosecutors accused Mladic of using delaying tactics and said nothing should prevent his transfer to the tribunal, maintaining that doctors who have examined him say Mladic is in good enough health to face trial.

Daughter's grave
Earlier Tuesday, Mladic was briefly released from jail, travelling in a high-security armoured convoy to a suburban cemetery where he visited the grave of the daughter who killed herself in 1994 during the war, reportedly because she was depressed over his brutal role in the war.

At the black marble grave, he left a lit candle and a small white bouquet of flowers with a red rose in the middle.

"We didn't announce his visit to the grave because it is his private thing and because it represented a security risk," deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said. "The whole operation lasted for exactly 22 minutes and passed without a glitch. He was at the grave for a few minutes."

Mladic had repeatedly demanded that he be allowed to visit the grave, a memorial he had avoided for years as he tried to avoid capture.

Mladic's 23-year-old daughter Ana, a medical student, committed suicide in 1994 with her father's pistol. She reportedly never wrote a suicide note, but media at the time said she ended her life at Mladic's Belgrade family house because of depression caused by her father's role in the war.

Mladic has rejected the official investigation into his case and claimed she was killed by his wartime enemies, saying the pistol was found in her left hand, although she was right-handed.

Kadira Gabeljic, whose husband and two sons were killed in the Srebrenica slaughter, reacted with disbelief and anger at Mladic's visit to his daughter's grave, saying she almost fainted at the news.

So far, she said, forensic experts have managed to exhume only part of the remains of her sons, Mesud and Meho, who were 16 and 21 when killed.

"He was allowed to do it, and I am still searching for my children for the past 16 years, ever since Srebrenica happened," she said.

"My husband had been found, but what about my children?," she asked. "I will wait for years. I might even die before their complete remains are found."

War hero
Serb nationalists in Serbia and parts of Bosnia still consider Mladic a hero - the general who against all odds tried to defend ethnic Serbs in the Bosnian conflict. In the Bosnian city of Banja Luka, thousands of supporters protested his arrest Tuesday, in the biggest demonstration so far in the country.

Demonstrators chanted Mladic's name, and carried his picture alongside those of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, whom they consider their biggest allies.

On Monday, Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected speculation that authorities had known of Mladic's hiding place and delayed his arrest to coincide with a visit by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The rumours have persisted because Mladic was found living not far from the capital, Belgrade, with relatives who share his last name.

The president said it's time for the European Union to do its part by boosting his nation's efforts to join the bloc, arguing the arrest of Mladic proves it is serious about rejoining the international fold.

Source: AP