BELGRADE: Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic was arrested in Serbia Thursday after years on the run from international genocide charges, opening the way for the once-pariah state to seek membership in the European Union. As commander of Bosnian Serb forces in the 1992-95 Bosnia war, Mladic was indicted by an international war crimes court in 1995 over the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica and the brutal 43-month siege of Sarajevo. “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 told reporters in Belgrade. Tadic said Mladic had been detained in Serbia, which had long said it could not find a man seen as a hero by many Serbs. “This removes a heavy burden from Serbia and closes a page of our unfortunate history,” he said. Mladic was arrested in the village of Lazarevo, near the northeastern town of Zrenjanin around 100 km from the capital Belgrade, a police official said. The United States said Thursday it was “delighted” with the arrest of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic and looks forward to his transfer to face trial in The Hague. “The United States is delighted to hear the announcement of the Serbian government that they have captured Ratko Mladic,” Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security adviser told reporters at the G8 summit. “We look forward to an expeditious transfer to the tribunal in The Hague,” Rhodes said, congratulating the Serbian government and offering thoughts to victims of Mladic's alleged atrocities during the Bosnian war. The United Nations secretary general said the arrest of Mladic represents “an historic day” for international justice. “This is an important step forward for Serbia and for international justice,” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. “We expect Ratko Mladic to be transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia without delay. Full cooperation with the ICTY remains essential on Serbia's path toward EU membership,” she added. Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said that it could take up to seven days to complete the procedure to extradite Mladic to the UN court in The Hague. Meanwhile, the Belgrade-based war crimes court stopped questioning war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic Thursday because of his poor health, his lawyer said. “The investigative judge had tried (to interview Mladic) and had to end questioning as Mladic is in serious condition. He is hardly responsive,” lawyer Milos Saljic told reporters. Vekaric told reporters the court would continue to question Mladic Friday.
