Serbia hands over last war-crimes suspect

Goran Hadzic, a war-crimes suspect, has been extradited to the The Hague, Netherlands, to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The wartime leader of Croatia’s Serbs arrived at Rotterdam airport on Friday from Belgrade after Snezana Malovic, the Serbian justice minister, signed extradition orders.

Hadzic, 53, is accused of 14 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Croatia’s 1991-95 war, including the levelling of the town of Vukovar and the massacre of about 200 Croat prisoners of war.

With the arrest of Hadzic after seven years on the run, Serbia has fulfilled its obligation to hand over all suspects wanted by the ICTY.

As Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports, full co-operation with the court was a main demand of the European Union as Serbia sought to get candidacy status and a date to start accession talks later this year.