Former Serbian General Extradited To Hague

Former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, the last fugitive wanted for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, has been extradited to the Hague to stand trial.

Hadzic was put on a plane at Belgrade airport after earlier being allowed to visit under police escort his ageing mother and his pregnant daughter at his family home in Novi Sad , 40 miles north of the capital.

He was also reportedly visited by his girlfriend, with whom he has a child.

His wife and children had seen him on Thursday while he was in a cell in the court building in Belgrade.

"At this moment his plane is on its way to The Hague," Serbia's justice minister Snezana Malovic told a news conference after the plane took off.

"I signed the official extradition order in the course of this morning," Ms Malovic added.

Hadzic, 52, who had been on the run since 2004, was arrested in the mountain region of Fruska Gora near the northern city of Novi Sad two days ago.

He has been indicted over the massacre by Croatian Serb troops under his command of 250 Croats and other non-Serbs taken from a hospital in Vukovar after the city fell to Serbian troops following a three-month siege in November 1991.

He is the last of 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for their role in bloody 1990s wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

He faces 14 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes dating back to the 1991-95 Croatian war when troops under his command allegedly committed mass murder and deported non-Serbs.

After his transfer to The Hague, the UN court will schedule an initial appearance for Hadzic, expected next week, where he will be asked to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to the charges against him.

It could take up to a year for his trial to open.