Ratko Mladic to file appeal against Hague extradition
Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic is to file an appeal later against his extradition to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
His family says Gen Mladic is too sick to travel, but the Serbian government is expected to reject the appeal.
Gen Mladic is accused of committing war crimes during the Bosnian war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 7,500 Muslim men and boys.
Thousands of people rallied in Belgrade on Sunday against his arrest.
The demonstrators hailed the general as a Serbian national hero. About 100 people were arrested during clashes with police in the Serbian capital.
Speaking outside Belgrade's war crimes court Gen Mladic's lawyer, Milos Saljic, said he would file the appeal by post later on Monday. It is expected to arrive at the building on Tuesday.
"I will make the appeal this afternoon to prolong things a little bit, so he extradition does not take place right away," said Mr Saljic.
The move is a way of buying a little more time for his client, whom Mr Saljic says is too sick to be extradited to the Hague, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in the Serb capital.
Despite a decision by a Belgrade court that Gen Mladic was fit enough to be handed over to the UN court, Mr Saljic said he would request another independent medical examination, saying his client's health had deteriorated since his arrest.
"I don't think the trial will take place. He will not live to the start of the trial," said Mr Saljic.
It could take up to three days for the ministry of justice to decide on the appeal, but our correspondent says it is likely to be rejected earlier, with Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor already dismissing the claim of ill-health as a delaying tactic.
The BBC's Duncan Kennedy says Sunday's protest was held by a few thousand people for whom Gen Mladic remains a hero
"My impression is that he is acting in a very composed manner," said the prosecutor, Bruno Vekaric.
"As far as his mental state is concerned, believe me, he looks more normal than many others."
He also dismissed as ungrounded media reports that Gen Mladic had hearing difficulties and that his right arm was paralysed.
'Treason'
The government will hope Gen Mladic's departure will quell any further demonstrations by his supporters, adds our correspondent.
The Hague tribunal says it will not specify on which day Gen Mladic will arrive, but our correspondent says there is speculation he could be sent on a night-time flight, without prior warning.
Sunday's protests saw some 7,000 supporters of Gen Mladic rallying in central Belgrade to hear speeches from nationalist politicians and decry Mr Mladic's arrest.
"Co-operation with The Hague tribunal represents treason," said Lidija Vukicevic of the Serbian Radical Party.
"This is a protest against the shameful arrest of the Serbian hero."
The demonstrators also denounced Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic.
Gen Mladic's arrest is considered crucial to Serbia's bid to join the European Union.
He evaded capture for 16 years after the end of the Bosnian conflict - just one of the ethnic wars unleashed in the 1990s by the break up of Yugoslavia.
As the rally ended, the mood turned ugly. Some of the demonstrators clashed with police, throwing stones and flares.
About 3,000 people, many of them former Bosnian Serb soldiers, earlier held a separate protest against Gen Mladic's arrest in the Bosnian village of Kalinovik, where he was born.
On Sunday, Gen Mladic's son, Darko, said that despite the tribunal's indictment, his father had told him he was not responsible for the killings in Srebrenica, committed after his troops overran the town.
"He said that whatever was done in Srebrenica, he had nothing to do with it," he said after visiting his father.
Reconciliation hopes
Gen Mladic was seized early last Thursday morning in the village of Lazarevo, about 80km (50 miles) north of Belgrade.
Following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic in 2008, Gen Mladic had become the most prominent Bosnian war crimes suspect still at large.
He was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in 1995 for genocide over the killings that July at Srebrenica - the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II - and other alleged crimes.
Having lived freely in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, he disappeared after the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2001.
President Tadic has said the arrest brought the country and the region closer to reconciliation, and opened the doors to EU membership for Serbia.
BBC News.jpg)
Comments