Ratko Mladic could be extradited to the Hague ‘within days’

Defence appeal is unlikely to stall process as details emerge of Mladic’s life on the run, including three years in Belgrade Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general arrested last week on genocide charges, may be extradited to the Hague tribunal in the next four days, say Serbian officials. The officials said that delaying tactics by defence lawyers could not put off the extradition beyond the end of the week. Mladic’s lawyer Milos Saljic was due to file an appeal on Monday against his extradition to the Hague war crimes tribunal, sending it by post in the hope of slowing down the process. Saljic said he would send the document by registered delivery. “I will make the appeal this afternoon to prolong things a bit, so the extradition does not take place right away,” he said. According to Belgrade press reports, lawyers acting for Mladic’s co-accused, the former Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, attempted a similar ploy after he was arrested two years ago. But the appeal was lost in the post and Karadzic was extradited five days later. In his appeal, Saljic said, he would argue that the former Bosnian Serb general was not in a fit state to stand trial. “His health is in an alarming state; he must be examined by cardiologists, neurosurgeons, orthopaedists, gastroenterologists,” he said. Meanwhile, the Serbian government denied that Mladic’s arrest had been the result of a secret deal with the west to ensure the country’s eventual membership of the EU. The minister in charge of relations with the Hague tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, said: “There was no trade with Mladic’s extradition.” He said Serbia “would probably become a candidate for EU membership whether or not Mladic is extradited”. “We have arrested Mladic when we could, when we could reach him, and when we were sure we were following the right trail,” he said. Thousands of ultra-nationalists rallied in Belgrade on Sunday to protest against the arrest, denouncing the president, Boris Tadic, as a traitor. Ljajic has said the arrest was essential for Serbia’s national interests and for regional reconciliation. At a press conference on Monday, Ljajic gave new details of Mladic’s movements during his years on the run from an international arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. During Slobodan Milosevic’s rule, Mladic stayed in three army barracks, at Stragari, Rajac and Krcmar, Ljajic said. After Milosevic was ousted and sent to The Hague, and a new government signed an agreement with the tribunal to pursue Mladic in 2002, his supporters transferred him to an apartment in Belgrade. In 2005, he was taken to the village of Ljube, and to three more locations before his arrest. One of those locations was presumably the northern village of Lazarevo, where he was arrested on 26 May at the home of his cousin, Branko. There have been unconfirmed reports in the Serbian press that Mladic was sheltered by priests from the Serbian Orthodox church. Ljajic said the government was investigating if members of the state security services and the clergy had helped Mladic evade justice. A friend of Mladic said that in Belgrade he had lived a normal life. “Everybody came to pay their respects. He was not the type to sit around and do nothing,” Aleksandar Mihailovic said. “He loved songs, rakia , eating – he was a normal person.” Ratko Mladic Serbia Europe Bosnia and Herzegovina Julian Borger guardian.co.uk

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