Mladic Loses Extradition Appeal

Mladic Loses Extradition Appeal - Former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic's appears to be spending his last days in Serbia, and he's focusing on family. A Belgrade court rejected an appeal against extraditing Mladic to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague only hours after the appeal was submitted, Reuters explains, making a transfer late today or early tomorrow very likely. Mladic's lawyer had argued that his client--who's accused of committing genocide during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s-- isn't mentally or physically fit to stand trial in the Netherlands.

Mladic, who was arrested last week after a 16-year manhunt, began the day by making a police-escorted visit to his daughter Ana's grave in Belgrade. The New York Times explains that when Ana, a medical student, was found dead in 1994 at the age of 23, authorities concluded that she had killed herself with her father's pistol. Some believed she committed suicide because she was depressed about the role her father had played in the atrocities in the Balkans, the paper explains, while Mladic and his supporters maintained that she was murdered by her father's enemies. At the cemetary, Mladic lit a candle and placed a bouquet of flowers--pictured below--at the grave. The Times cites rumors that Mladic secretly visited the grave while he was hiding, but the AP adds that cameras and 24-hour surveillance at the grave may have dissuaded him from doing so.

Mladic will meet with his wife and son today after a visit from his grandson and granddaughter on Monday, and has asked repeatedly to visit his mother's grave in Bosnia ever since he was detained. Some relatives of those killed during the 1994 Srebrenica massacre--which Mladic is believed to have orchestrated--were enraged by the news that Serbian authorities permitted Mladic to visit Ana's grave. "I am still searching for my children for the past 16 years," Kadira Gabeljic, who also lost her husband in Srebrenica, told the AP. ( open-wire )

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Exclusive : Boy in Mladic video looks back

Exclusive : Boy in Mladic video looks back – The video horrified the world: a grinning Ratko Mladic patting a young Muslim boy on the head and assuring him everyone in the Srebrenica area would be safe — just hours before overseeing the murder of 8,000 men and boys.

The boy in the video is now a 24-year-old man. He clearly recalls the sunny day in July 1995 when he met the Bosnian Serb military commander who gave him chocolate.

"I was 8 and I didn't know what was going on or who Ratko Mladic was," Izudin Alic told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

Mladic, 69, was captured last week by Serbian intelligence agents after 16 years on the run, and the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague plans to try him on charges of genocide. Mladic was flown Tuesday to the Netherlands after judges rejected his appeal to block an extradition order.

In 1995, Alic was among thousands of Bosnian Muslims who fled to the Srebrenica area seeking the protection of U.N. troops. That July evening, he joined other kids flocking to a field where they heard an important soldier was handing out chocolate.

Image shows Bosnian Muslim boy Izudin Alic being - **CORRECTS REFERENCE TO IZUDIN ALIC AS A BOSNIAN MUSLIM, NOT A BOSNIAN SERB** FILE - This image from file video shows Bosnian Muslim boy Izudin Alic being patted on the head by a grinning Ratko Mladic in 1995 as Mladic assures him that everyone in Srebrenica, Bosnia, would be safe as other young Bosnian Muslims look on, just hours before overseeing the murder of some 8,000 men and boys. But Izudin Alic escaped with his life to bear witness to the incident. Sitting in his home in Srebrenica, Bosnia, on Tuesday May 31, 2011, 24-year old Alic recalls the sunny day in 1995 when he met with the Bosnian Serb military commander Mladic, who gave him chocolate, even as soldiers were killing his father in the nearby woods. The fugitive Mladic has been arrested on charges relating to alleged war crimes during the Bosnian 1992-95 war.

"I went there with other children and took that chocolate bar from Ratko Mladic," said Alic, a lanky man with sunken eyes. "He asked me what my name was and I said 'Izudin.' I was not afraid. I was just focused on the chocolate."

Alic's grandfather had forbidden him to go, but he sneaked out of the factory where the family was hiding because he couldn't resist the lure of chocolate.

He was devouring it with gratitude while his father, Sahzet, was being hunted down by Mladic's men in the nearby woods. His father had fled the night before along with 15,000 other Srebrenica men, moving through mountains and minefields. Mladic's troops soon caught up with them.

"He was found years ago in one of the mass graves," Alic said, flipping through a photo album showing the family in a garden in front of their home.

The video that captured Mladic patting Alic on the head generated worldwide revulsion because of the contrast between the military commander's feigned benevolence and the reality of the massacre to come. Mladic paraded among Bosnian refugees, smilingly promising evacuation with his soldiers handing out chocolate to kids.

In the video, Mladic asked Alic his age, and Alic responded, "Twelve." He says he lied to appear older, not realizing the risks. The youngest known Srebrenica victim was 14.

The whereabouts of the boy in the video have been a mystery for years, even though he clearly stated his name in the footage as Izudin. Some thought he was dead, others that he had emigrated. The Association of Mothers of Srebrenica even suggested at one point that reporters search for him among Srebrenica refugees in the United States.

The AP began searching for him last week after Mladic's capture.

A break came when the AP came across a group of young men who claimed to have been among the children given chocolate by Mladic. They identified the boy from the video as Alic, a Bosnian Muslim in the village of Prohici — and AP tracked him down there.

He and his mother, Fatima, showed an AP reporter family photo albums of Alic as a boy bearing a striking resemblance to the youth in the video. He also was shown the famous video and identified himself as the youth patted on the head by Mladic.

The United Nations had declared the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, besieged by Serbs throughout the conflict, a protected area for civilians. When Mladic's troops overran the enclave, 20,000 people flocked to the U.N. base outside Srebrenica for protection.

So did the Alic family — young Izudin, his two sisters, his mother and his grandfather.

When Serb troops reached the base, the outgunned and outnumbered Dutch peacekeepers never fired a shot, and Mladic's troops began separating out the men for execution.

The family returned to settle in Prohici, just outside Srebrenica, a few years after the war.

Alic earns a living as a construction worker and making sandwiches at a fast-food stand. He often prays at his father's grave in the town's memorial center, where thousands of Mladic's victims — unearthed from mass graves — were finally laid to rest.

For Alic and his family, some solace came last week when Mladic was captured in a village north of Belgrade.

"I was glad," Alic said. "He should get the biggest sentence possible. He killed my father, my uncle and so many of our people." ( Associated Press )

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Mladic cooperative when taken into custody

Mladic cooperative when taken into custody – A U.N. official who met Ratko Mladic when the former Bosnian Serb military commander was extradited from Belgrade says Mladic was "extremely cooperative" when taken into custody at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.

Tribunal registrar John Hocking says he spoke to Mladic Tuesday night through an interpreter and the 69-year-old genocide suspect appeared to understand him clearly.

Hocking said Wednesday that a doctor who examined Mladic saw no medical problems to prevent him being taken into the tribunal's detention unit.

Mladic's Belgrade lawyer has said he is too weak mentally and physically to face a war crimes trial.

Ratko Mladic- A helicopter-escorted convoy of police vehicles with flashing blue lights possibly carrying Ratko Mladic leaves Rotterdam Airport, Netherlands, Tuesday, May 31, 2011. Serbia has extradited Ratko Mladic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal where he will stand trial for genocide, 16 years after he was charged by the court for the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the worst massacre of civilians in Europe since World War II

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Ratko Mladic will appear before a judge of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal on Friday, giving the world its first clear look at the former Bosnian Serb military chief since he was arrested last week in Serbia after 16 years on the run.

The judge will ask Mladic if he understands the 11 charges against him and if he wants to enter a plea to each of them.

Prosecutors allege he was a key architect of Bosnian Serb atrocities throughout the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the 1995 killings of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Europe's worst massacre since World War II, and the deadly campaign of shelling that terrorized Sarajevo for nearly four years.

The war left about 100,000 people dead and forced 1.8 million to flee their homes.

Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said 69-year-old Mladic underwent medical tests and was given a copy of his indictment after he arrived at the tribunal's detention unit Tuesday night following his extradition from Belgrade.

The former general underwent "a thorough medical examination," Jelacic said, and has access to high quality medical care at the court's detention unit as well as nearby Dutch hospitals. Mladic's Belgrade lawyer fought his extradition, saying he was too weak mentally and physically to survive a lengthy trial.

Jelacic declined to comment specifically on the state of Mladic's health.

When he appears in court, Mladic will be asked to formally confirm his identity and to plead to the charges. He also will be asked whether he has any complaints about the arrangements in the prison.

Like his old ally and political boss Radovan Karadzic three years ago, Mladic may decline to enter pleas at his first appearance, instead opting to delay a formal response by up to a month. Karadzic's trial, which resumed Tuesday after a two-month recess, is still in its early stages.

Mladic has said he does not recognize the authority of the U.N. tribunal.

Mladic was extradited from Belgrade on a Serbian government executive jet following his capture Thursday at the home of a relative in a Serbian village. Judges in Belgrade rejected his appeal to delay his transfer on grounds of ill health, and the Serbian justice minister authorized his handover to U.N. officials in The Hague.

Since his arrest, only a few photos have emerged of the former general.

Justice Minister Snezana Malovic said the handover marked the fulfillment of Serbia's "international and moral obligation." Serbia had been told it needed to capture Mladic before it could be considered as a candidate for membership in the European Union.

Of the 161 suspects indicted by the U.N. court since its establishment in 1993, only one remains on the run — Goran Hadzic, a leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia.

Mladic's extradition brought a satisfied response from war victims.

"This means a lot to the victims of genocide," said Munira Subasic, head of the Sarajevo-based Association of Srebrenica Massacre Survivors. "Mladic has left, and we believe that the evil will speak out of him and that he will tell the truth."

In Bosnia, Serb nationalists staged demonstrations in support of Mladic, some carrying banners that said: "The eagle is gone but the nest remains."

Serb nationalists in Serbia and parts of Bosnia still consider Mladic a hero — the general who against all odds tried to defend ethnic Serbs in the Bosnian conflict. In the Bosnian city of Banja Luka, thousands of supporters protested his arrest Tuesday, in the biggest demonstration so far in the country. ( Associated Press )

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War crimes suspect Mladic faces trial

War crimes suspect Mladic faces trial – Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic will appear before a UN court on Friday in The Hague following his dramatic extradition from Serbia to face genocide and war crimes charges.

After spending his first night behind bars and a routine examination by a doctor, the man accused of masterminding the worst massacre in Europe since World War II learned that he had two days to prepare for an initial hearing at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, according to a court order.

Europe's most wanted man was arrested in northeast Serbia last Thursday and extradited to the Netherlands on Tuesday after almost 16 years on the run.

After his bid to avoid extradition failed, a Serbian government plane carrying the ex-military leader landed at Rotterdam airport from where he was taken to The Hague under tight security and spent his first night in jail in isolation.

Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic - Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, seen here on May 27, will appear before a UN court on Friday in The Hague following his dramatic extradition from Serbia to face genocide and war crimes charges.

"He did have a medical examination according to the procedures," Nerma Jelacic, spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said on Wednesday.

Asked about the ex-general's first night behind bars, Jelacic told AFP: "I won't be making any statements about his personal wellbeing," adding she did not know whether the former general saw a lawyer after his arrival in The Hague on Tuesday evening.

"He has actually just arrived, he is yet to choose his lawyer," she said.

Mladic will be allowed to choose a legal representative from an ICTY list of accredited lawyers, she added.

Earlier Tuesday, Serbian judges rejected Mladic's appeal against a transfer to the UN-backed ICTY. Dismissing his complaints of ill health, they said he was fit to stand trial for alleged atrocities committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

The prosecution has charged Mladic, 69, with genocide, persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts and cruel treatment for his alleged part in a plot to achieve the "elimination or permanent removal" of Muslims from large parts of Bosnia in pursuit of a "Greater Serbia".

He is accused of masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

He is also charged over the 44-month siege of the capital Sarajevo from May 1992 in which 10,000 people died.

His arrest was welcomed in many quarters Wednesday.

"I am happy for all survivors that justice is going to triumph," said Thom Karremans, who commanded Dutch blue helmets deployed at Srebrenica at the time of the massacre.

The fact that Ratko Mladic will be tried by the ICTY was "a strong sign of the growing potency of international law," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

"It is a source of contentment for the victims, even if it comes late," he said. ( Agence France Presse )

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War crimes suspect Mladic to be charged on Friday

War crimes suspect Mladic to be charged on Friday – Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, extradited to the Netherlands from Serbia after 16 years on the run, will be formally charged with genocide at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Friday.

Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia scheduled Mladic's initial court appearance for Friday at 0800 GMT, when he will be charged and asked to enter a plea, according to a statement on the court's website.

Serge Brammertz, prosecutor for the tribunal, said in an interview with Austrian radio ORF on Wednesday that everything possible would be done to avoid a lengthy trial. Several war crimes trials in The Hague have dragged on for years.

Asked how long the whole process could take, he said that depended on several things, including Mladic's health and whether he appointed a legal team or handled his own defense.

Serbian Gendarmerie soldiers - Serbian Gendarmerie soldiers stand guard in front of the Special Court after accused war criminal Ratko Mladic arrived in Belgrade May 31, 2011

"It is very difficult to say how long it will last. The problem will not be the prosecution, we have our updated charge sheet ready, it will be a question of how long the defense needs to prepare their case."

Mladic was indicted by the tribunal 16 years ago over the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica, close to the border with Serbia, during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

He was taken to a detention center outside The Hague from Rotterdam airport on Tuesday evening after being flown from Belgrade on a Serbian government aircraft.

The 69-year-old former general was arrested on Thursday at a farmhouse in northern Serbia belonging to a cousin, triggering protests by Serb nationalists in Serbia and Bosnia.

His swift extradition will smooth Serbia's progress toward candidacy for European Union membership while serving as an important warning to others indicted on similar charges, such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir.

ONE MAN STILL ON THE RUN

Brammertz welcomed Serbia's decision to extradite Mladic, even though he said it took a "very long time."

"We would be very interested to know where he was between 2006 and 2011...we are waiting for the relevant reports so that we know who sheltered him, when and where," the prosecutor said.

Serbia must still do more, Brammertz said, urging the authorities to track down Goran Hadzic, an ethnic Serb also wanted by the U.N. tribunal.

"We hope of course that the arrest of Goran Hadzic also comes very soon ... We think it is very important that the last person on the run is arrested. But there are also important steps needed at a political level," Brammertz said in the radio interview.

Mladic's arrest has highlighted continued deep ethnic divisions in Bosnia, where he fought to create a separate Serb entity with the crucial backing of then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his U.N. tribunal cell in 2006.

As a result of the war, Bosnia is made up of a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation under a weak central Bosnian government.

According to an opinion poll published on May 15, before he was caught, 51 percent of Serbian citizens said they were against extraditing Mladic, while 34 percent said they were in favor of his arrest.

In the same poll, 78 percent of Serbs said they would not reveal Mladic's whereabouts in return for the 10 million euro reward offered by the government.

After his arrest, Mladic's lawyer and family argued that he was mentally unstable and too sick to be extradited to the tribunal -- a tactic that has been used by others facing war crimes courts and tribunals.

But on Tuesday, Serbia's war crimes court rejected an appeal from Mladic's lawyer that poor health should stop the extradition to The Hague and within hours, Mladic was on a plane to the Netherlands, where Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic is already on trial.

Bosnia's ambassador in the Netherlands said she had met Mladic and he was in good health.

"He looked quite good, in a good health condition, focused and rational, he definitely understood everything that was said to him," Ambassador Miranda Sidran-Kamisalic told the television station of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation. ( Reuters )

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Seven steps to fight your debts

Seven steps to fight your debts. Ignoring your cash woes could mean you fall into a downward debt spiral. Victoria Bischoff explains seven steps that will help you fight your way out of the red and back into the black.

If you've no idea how much you owe or are losing sleep over the size of your credit card bills, these seven simple steps should help you fight your way back to financial health.

Step 1: Face facts

At some point, it's probable we've all kicked unopened bank statements under the bed or shoved scary bills down the side of the sofa.

However, if you have a debt problem and ignore the evidence you'll only make it worse.

So, take the plunge and deal with your neglected piles of paperwork. The sooner you pull yourself out of debt denial and face facts, the sooner you can fix your finances.

Step 2: Write a budget

If you want to claw back control of your finances, you need to sit down and work out exactly where your money goes.

It's a good idea to create a simple spreadsheet detailing how much cash you have coming in and going out each month.

If your spending exceeds your income, you urgently need to investigate your spending habits. Keeping a spending diary for a month should help you track your outgoings and identify where you could make savings.

Step 3: Cut your costs

If you're paying expensive interest on your plastic, see if you can shift your debts onto a 0% balance transfer credit card.

These clever cards eliminate interest charges for a fixed period of time, helping you to destroy your debts much more quickly and cheaply. Right now, the Virgin Money Credit Card offers the market's longest 0% deal at 16 months.

If you don't think 16 months will be long enough for you to beat down your outstanding balances, it may be wise to opt for a long term, low rate deal instead.

You can learn more about these in Laura Starkey's useful article 'Why you should consider this credit card.'

In addition, it's worth trying to trim the cost of the everyday goods and services you have to pay for. If you can, you'll have more spare cash to throw at your debts.

If you've never switched your energy supplier or haven't done so recently, you could save up to £380 this year by comparing tariffs and taking your business elsewhere.

Also, it's important to make sure you aren't paying unnecessarily high insurance premiums. If you are due to renew an insurance policy or need to invest in new cover, shop around and compare prices as many companies will save their top deals for new customers.

Step 4: Prioritise your payments

Once you've made your existing debts as cheap as you can, arrange them in an order that will make repaying them as swift and affordable as possible.

Tackle your most expensive debts first. Look at the interest rates on what you owe and aim to pay off the balances with the highest interest rates as a priority.

This means paying the monthly minimum repayment (MMR) on debts that are cheaper (such as those you have managed to shift to a 0% balance transfer card). While paying the MMR is not usually something I'd recommend, in this situation it will allow you to throw every spare penny you can at your most expensive debt until it's been demolished.

Once you've achieved this, move on to the debt attracting the next-highest interest rate - then keep chipping at each debt successively until you've paid off everything you owe.

Concentrating on clearing one hurdle at time means you'll feel a sense of achievement each time you make it to the next stage in your payment plan.

A strategy like this will also help you reach your debt-free finish line much faster than if you only pay a little bit off each of your debts each month.

Step 5: Use your savings to squash your debt

In troubled times like these, many people find having a savings cushion to fall back on offers them valuable peace of mind.

However, if you have debts accruing interest, as a general rule of thumb it is smart to pay off this borrowing before you start to squirrel away cash.

This is because interest rate you're likely to be paying on debts is probably higher than the maximum you could earn on your savings.

Don't forget: if you empty your piggy bank to pay off pricey plastic and loans, you can always keep one credit card locked safely in a drawer to use in the event of an emergency.

Step 6: Ask about benefits

Check to see if you are entitled to any benefits or tax credits you are not claiming. The Directgov website should help with this.

It's also worth remembering to make use of the any company benefits you're entitled to before handing over your own hard earned cash.

If you need an eye test or want to attend a training scheme, find out if your employer will cover the cost for you.

Step 7: Seek professional advice

Finally, remember: always pay your priority debts first. Failing to meet payments on your mortgage, council tax, car insurance, television license or child maintenance obligations could result in serious action taken against you. You could lose your home, find yourself slapped with a serious fine or even face prosecution.

If you're unable to make even the minimum monthly repayments on your debts and can't see a way to make ends meet, you should seek professional help immediately. Independent organisations such as Citizens Advice, National Debtline and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service offer free guidance and advice.

Remember, filing for bankruptcy or an IVA could have a long term effect on your finances and seriously affect your credit rating. In my view, these options should only be considered after you have sought independent advice. ( mailcompare.mailonline.co.uk )

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How a jigsaw helps a child to sleep tight

How a jigsaw helps a child to sleep tight. It's a parenting skill that seems to be in retreat in this age of non-stop television.

Mothers and fathers appear to have increasing difficulties getting their children off to sleep in the evening - and then ensuring they don't keep waking through the night.

The cost can be measured in the stress couples suffer as their nights are disrupted and in the millions of pounds a year the Health Service spends in treating children's sleeping disorders.

But help for the NHS and fatigued parents is at hand.

According to findings unveiled yesterday, simply switching off the television and pulling out a jigsaw is just the ticket in helping to get restless children to sleep.

The 'settling routine' has been developed by health visitors.

They encourage parents to switch off the television, dim the lights and interest their child in a more soothing activity such as play bricks or a jigsaw.

The series of basic steps should be carried out in a 'winding-down' hour leading up to bedtime and should finish up with supper and a sleep-inducing soak in the bath.

While some might say it is just old-fashioned common sense, the Edinburgh International Science Festival was told that such simple bedtime routines could help save the NHS up to £50million a year in Scotland alone.

That figure could easily rise to hundreds of millions if the routines were applied across Britain.

Research suggests that up to 30 per cent of children under of five are affected by behavioural sleep problems.

The health visitors created the relaxing routine while running sleep clinics for children and parents.

Jackie McGreavey, of the Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust, said: 'The work at the sleep clinic isn't rocket science, but it really works.

'A lot of what we do is good, oldfashioned common sense, but the point is many parents, particularly mothers, desperately need this help.

'As well as being able to help them, the sleep clinics could also save the NHS a lot of money.'

The Tayside research suggests the key to the settling routine's success is changing the behaviour of the child from 'seeker' to 'selfsoother'.

This includes switching off the television, turning the lights low and engaging the child in hand-eye coordinating play. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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