Mladic ‘fit to face war crimes court’

Ratko Mladic is fit to stand trial in The Hague, says a Serbian judge. The war crimes suspect has until Monday to appeal.

Mladic’s lawyer says his client will appeal and insists he cannot be extradited to The Hague until his health is stable. Mladic’s son, Darko, claims his father is in bad physical shape and that his right arm is half-paralysed.

Accused of atrocities during the Bosnian war of 1992-95, Mladic had been on the run for 16 years. He will be charged with the deaths of 7,500 Muslim men and boys at Srebenica in 1995.

Mladic was captured on Tursday when Serbian security forces raided a relative’s house in the village of Lazarevo, about 80 kilometres north of the capital. According to local reports, he did not resist arrest.

Mladic had lived freely in Belgrade, reportedly using another name, until the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2001.

Questioning by the Serbian court will resume on Friday, after stopping due to what Mladic’s lawyer claimed was his client’s poor health.

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