Emma Alberici reported this story on Saturday, May 28, 2011 08:06:00
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb General is a step closer to facing justice after a court in Belgrade deemed him fit enough to travel to The Hague.
The war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has been chasing Mladic since 1995, the same year he was accused of ordering the massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.
Lawyers for Europe's most wanted man say they'll appeal against the extradition claiming their client is too sick to face trial.
Here's our Europe correspondent Emma Alberici.
EMMA ALBERICI: For 16 years Ratko Mladic has been evading justice over his role in the killings of thousands during the near four-year siege of Sarajevo and the attempted extermination of Bosnia's Muslims at Srebrenica with the murder of close to 8000 of the town's men and boys.
A judge in Belgrade ruled that he should be sent to The Hague to face 15 charges of war crimes. Outside the court, his son Darko Mladic said the decision would be appealed on the grounds that his father is too ill to travel.
DARKO MLADIC: We are not stating anything about the trial. We are focused at this time on his health, his condition and we are calling for independent experts to verify his conditions.
EMMA ALBERICI: Ratko Mladic has suffered a stroke and is partially paralysed down his right side but Vladimir Vukcevic, the chief prosecutor in Belgrade, says the 69-year-old former commander of the Bosnian Serb army understands the charges against him and is well enough to get take the two-hour flight to the Netherlands.
VLADIMIR VUKCEVIC (translated): Ratko Mladic is absolutely ready to be prosecuted as far as his mental state, he's completely capable and healthy.
EMMA ALBERICI: More details have emerged of the capture of Mladic who had been living under the alias of Milorad Komadic.
According to officials in Belgrade, he was wearing no disguise and didn't resist arrest. He was armed with two guns but there was no time to use them. He was living at a cousin's home in Lazarevo 60 kilometres from Belgrade.
His capture turns a dark page in the history of the Balkans, with this single act, Serbian president, Boris Tadic, expects his country's status as international pariah to be recast.
Zlatko Lagumdzija was the deputy prime minister of Bosnia in the 90s and was among the victims of the then General Mladic's bloody campaign.
ZLATKO LAGUMDZIJA: I was heavily wounded in one of those massacres on the streets of Sarajevo. I was lucky, I just spent 12 months in hospital and 12 surgeries and survived. In Sarajevo, 10,000 people were not as luck as me.
EMMA ALBERICI: Zlatko Lagumdzija is a good friend of the Serbian president.
ZLATKO LAGUMDZIJA: And I speak every time with him and calling him to promote the principles of shared values, of shared societies. If the world is becoming a shared society, we have to see that Europe is really closing the chapter and being a shared society in south-eastern Europe.
EMMA ALBERICI: And it's in that spirit of reconciliation that some believe the time has come to welcome Serbia into the 27-member bloc of the European Union, a nod of respectability and legitimacy the country has long craved.
But there are war criminals are still hiding in Serbia probably enjoying the same military and Nationalist Party protection that allowed Ratko Mladic to escape justice for so long.
This is Emma Alberici reporting for Saturday AM.
Ratko Mladić in 1993 
, otherwise known as "The Butcher of Bosnia," has been arrested after being sought for over a decade. The 69-year-old former Serbian general and war crimes suspect was arrested on May 26 by Serbian special police in , Serbia. Mladić was accused of war crimes shortly after the 1992–1995 . He was wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity, including the orchestration of a massacre of over 8000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys in .

The arrest has prompted protests from Serbian nationalists, who herald Mladić as a national hero and patriot. However, the international reaction to Mladić's capture is more positive. French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Serbia's actions, saying it is another step for Serbia on the path to joining the European Union. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt gave similar praise, saying that the Serbia's prospects of joining the EU are "brighter than ever."

Serbia's war crimes court ruled that Mladić is fit for trial, despite claims from family and supporters to the contrary. Ratko Mladić's son Darko claims that his father is too weak to face extradition to The Hague for trial. Mladić could face extradition within a matter of days.


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cs:Srbové chytili Mladiće, půjde před tribunál v Haagu
de:Serbien: Mutmaßlicher Kriegsverbrecher Ratko Mladić verhaftet
fr:Serbie : Ratko Mladić arrêté pour crimes contre l'humanité
ru:Арестован Ратко Младич
sr:Ухапшен Ратко Младић