Mladic Tested For Fitness To Stand Trial

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic will undergo a medical evaluation later to see if he is fit enough to appear in court.

The process to extradite Mladic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague is expected to continue today, after his poor health cut short questioning on Thursday.

Mladic is accused of masterminding appalling acts of violence against Muslims during the Bosnian conflict of the early 1990s.

The 69-year-old was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, ending a 16-year long manhunt.

Photos of Mladic in 1995 and after his arrest

But his first appearance before a Serbian court was cut short after his lawyer said he was unable to communicate.

"The investigative judge tried to question Ratko Mladic but he failed because he (Mladic) is in a difficult psychological and physical condition," his lawyer Milos Saljic told reporters.

"He is aware that he is under arrest, he knows where he is, and he said he does not recognise The Hague tribunal."

Mr Saljic added that Mladic needs medical care and "should not be moved in such a state".

Mladic appeared in a Serbian court looking frail and haggard

Doctors will report later as to whether Mladic is capable of appearing in court again.

The Serb was indicted for war crimes in 1995 and became Europe's most wanted man.

He is accused of masterminding the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.

He is also thought to be behind the 44-month siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 people dead in the same year.

Judge Fouad Riad of the UN tribunal said there was evidence against Mladic of "unimaginable savagery".

A woman walks past a graffiti portrait of Mladic in Belgrade

The former general was found in a village 50 miles (80km) north of the Serbian capital Belgrade and was reportedly using the assumed name Milorad Komodic - an anagram of his true identity.

Serbian interior minister Ivica Dacic said Mladic had been armed with two guns "but he did not have the time to use them".

The international community has welcomed the news with Prime Minister David Cameron saying: "We should remember why the international community has been pursuing this man.

"He is accused of the most appalling crimes in both Srebrenica and Sarajevo."

The Bosnian-Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic, Mladic's mentor was "sorry for General Mladic’s loss of freedom," his lawyer said.

Karadzic was captured in July 2008 and is himself fighting charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in The Hague.