BELGRADE: Judges have rejected an appeal by war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic seeking to stop his extradition to a UN tribunal, a prosecutor said Tuesday. The former Bosnian Serb commander will be extradited to The Hague, Netherlands “as soon as possible,” Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor, Bruno Vekaric, told reporters. The timing of Mladic's extradition depends on when the Serbian justice minister signs an extradition order, but that is expected to be done quickly, paving the way for his immediate hand-over. Mladic is charged at the tribunal for atrocities committed by his Serb troops during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Earlier Tuesday, Mladic was briefly released from jail, traveling in a secret high-security convoy to a suburban cemetery where he left a lone candle for the daughter who killed herself during Bosnia's bloody ethnic war. Vekaric accused Mladic of using delaying tactics and said nothing should prevent his extradition to the tribunal. “Doctors are saying he's capable of standing trial,” Vekaric said, adding that Mladic will get proper medical checkups once he arrives at the UN tribunal's detention unit in The Hague. The prosecutor said no one will be informed when Mladic will be transported from his prison and flown to the Netherlands “because of security risks.” On Monday, Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected speculation that authorities had known of Mladic's hiding place and delayed his arrest to coincide with a visit by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
