Ratko Mladic arrested by Serbian police

Serbian President Boris Tadic announced the arrest today: “On behalf of the Republic of Serbia I can announce the arrest of Ratko Mladic. The extradition process is underway.”

Commander of Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Mladic is accused of the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men from the Bosnian “safe area” of Srebrenica.

Speaking exclusively to Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow, Mr Blair said: “This is a huge moment for the principle – people who engage in genocide will eventually be brought to justice, but also for Serbia. They have taken that action, which is enormously difficult for them, inside their own politics and country.”

Mladic is still seen by many Serbs as a hero for his loyal and fearless service to the Serb cause, despite being accused of orchestrating the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two.

Mladic was indicted in 1995 on genocide and sought by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

During the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, which lasted 44 months, some 10,000 people were killed by Mladic’s Bosnian Serb army. The UN accused the forces under the Mladic’s command of using “shelling and sniping to kill, maim, wound and terrorise the civilian inhabitants of Sarajevo.”

Read more: Ratko Mladic and the Srebrenica massacre

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “He is accused of the most appalling war crimes both in terms of what happened in Srebrenica but also in Sarajevo. There is a very good reason why the long arm of international law had been looking for him for so long.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was a “historic day for international justice”. “This arrest marks an important step in our collective fight against impunity”, he added.

Now 69 years old, Mladic was discovered after an anonymous tip-off in a relative’s farmhouse in the village of Lazarveo – a half hour drive from the Serbian capital. According to police officials he was cooperative during the arres, which Bosnian security agencies are understood to have taken part in.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for a “rapid transfer” of Mladic to The Hague in order for the charges against him to be heard.

EU membership

Mladic’s arrest paves the way for Serbia to join the European Union; a membership which has long been blocked by its inability to find him.

Today, Mr Tadic said the arrest was proof of Serbia’s cooperation with The Hague, adding “it is proof that the Republic of Serbia would like to close this very hard chapter in Serbian history”.

Mr Blair told Channel 4 News: “It’s an interesting example too of the way that Europe, and the prospect of European Union membership, can act as a magnet for changing the behaviour of countries changing their political system, so its big news and good news.”

It’s an interesting example too of the way that Europe, and the prospect of European Union membership, can act as a magnet for changing the behaviour of countries changing their political system. Tony Blair, former Prime Minister

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton welcomed the arrest of Mladic and said he should be sent to the war crimes tribunal without delay.

“This is an important step forward for Serbia and for international justice,” Ms Ashton said.

“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 towards EU membership,” she added.

Mladic is expected to quickly be transferred to the Hague court to face a trial. Last week President Tadic rejected criticism that his country was failing to cooperate property with the UN war crimes tribunal on Yugoslavia.

Read more: Channel 4 News' Alex Thomson meets General Mladic in 1995

Serbia applied to join the EU in 2009, while the European Commission is due to decide in October whether to grant it membership.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Belgrade last week it needed to do more to catch war criminals still at large.

Capturing and sending Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic to the Hague tribunal is a key condition of further Serbian progress towards joining the European Union.

Mr Tadic insisted today that Serbia would arrest Hadzic too. “This country will remain stable,” he said. “Whoever tries to destabilise it will be prosecuted and punished.”

The arrest of Ratko Mladic is a historic moment for a region that was torn apart by the appalling wars of the 1990s. Foreign Secretary William Hague

Mr Barroso said the arrest was a “very positive development for the European Union, for Serbia’s neighbours, but most of all for the rule of law in Serbia itself”.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the arrest as a courageous move that brought Serbia a step closer to future EU integration.

“It’s very good news and it’s a very courageous decision by the Serbian president. It’s one more step towards Serbia’s integration one day into the European Union,” Mr Sarkozy said at the G8 Summit in Deauville.

In pictures: war, genocide and Ratko Mladic. Click here for more.

Historic moment

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the arrest of Mladic was an important step towards a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.

Mladic “played a key role in some of the darkest episodes of Balkan and European history”, Mr Rasmussen said. “Almost sixteen years after his indictment for genocide and other war crimes, his arrest finally offers a chance for justice to be done”.

The forthcoming trial of Mladic would be a chance for the whole Balkan region to put the past behind them, said the former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown, enabling them to build a secure European future.

Foreign Secretary William Hague congratulated the Serbian authorities, adding that the arrest was evidence of Serbia’s commitment to cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal.

Mladic played a key role in some of the darkest episodes of Balkan and European history. NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen

Mr Hague said: “The arrest of Ratko Mladic is a historic moment for a region that was torn apart by the appalling wars of the 1990s.

“Ratko Mladic stands accused of terrible crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and it is right that he will now be brought to face international justice. Today our thoughts are with the relatives of those killed during the siege of Sarajevo and genocide in Srebrenica.”

Survivors seek justice

Bosnian Muslim survivors of the Srebrenica massacre said the news was bittersweet.

Munira Subasic, whose husband and son were killed, said: “I am happy to be alive to witness his arrest and at the same time very sorry many other Srebenica victims did not live to witness this moment”.

Kada Sehomerovic, who lost family members in Srebrenica, said: “I have been waiting years for this criminal, who gave himself the right to take away my children and force me out of my town, to face justice.

Read more: Who is Ratko Mladic? 

“Mladic is responsible for the death of my son, husband and two brothers but nevertheless he was at large for more than 15 years.”

Croatia’s Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said he now expects the arrest of Goran Hadzic – the last remaining war criminal at large. “Croatia, as a victim of the aggressive policy of Slobodan Milosevic, welcomes Mladic’s arrest.

“This is good news for us, for this part of Europe and for the world, but also for the victims of Milosevic’s destructive policy.”