HAGUE, Netherlands — Spokeswoman says the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is fully equipped to deal with any health issues suffered by genocide suspect Gen. Ratko Mladic when he is extradited to stand trial in The Hague.
An extradition hearing in Belgrade on Thursday evening was cut short due to what Mladic's lawyer Milos Saljic claimed was his client's poor health.
Saljic says 69-year-old Mladic is too ill to be moved.
Once extradition formalities are completed Mladic likely will end up at the U.N. tribunal's detention unit.
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.
"It's a very familiar and predictable scene inside and outside the special court in Belgrade," Sky News foreign editor Tim Marshall, reporting from Belgrade, said.
"Inside, it is the same court where Radovan Karadzic appeared and the same judge who extradited him to The Hague.
"Outside, the old media reporting in the 1990 from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo gathered again to see the last chapter in the saga - the only thing standing between Mladic and his extradition is his health."
Mladic, 69, is accused of masterminding appalling acts of violence against Muslims during the Bosnian conflict of the early 1990s, and was arrested on Thursday after a 16-year manhunt.
Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said Friday the court is "absolutely capable" of dealing with suspects "who could or may have possible health implications or problems that would impact the trial.
