Serbia arrests Butcher of Bosnia after 16-yr manhunt
BELGRADE: Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic was arrested in Serbia on Thursday after years on the run from international genocide charges,opening the way for the once-pariah state to approach the European mainstream.
Mladic,accused of orchestrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica and a 43-month siege of Sarajevo during Bosnias 1992-5 war,was found in a farmhouse owned by a cousin.
Mladic was handcuffed and whisked away, said the official,who said he been cooperative during the arrest.The formerly burly and widely-feared general was not disguised but had false identity papers and looked haggard and much older,he said.Hardly anyone could recognise him.
A friend of the Mladic family said he had been put on a plane to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague,but Serbia said he was still in its custody.On behalf of the Republic of Serbia I can announce the arrest of Ratko Mladic.The extradition process is under way, Serbian President Boris Tadic said.
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