Mladic urges public to refrain from bloodshed, unrest

Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic detained in Serbia for war crimes has urged public to refrain from bloodshed and unrest, Serbian news agency Tanjug cited his lawyer Milos Saljic as saying.

The former general has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity for playing a key role in ethnic cleansing during Bosnian war in 1992-95, including the murder of some 7,500 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.

Mladic is still considered a hero by some Serbians. Tanjug reported on Friday that police in Belgrade had arrested at least 35 people during clashes with nationalist protesters following his arrest. Ultra-nationalists’ parties said they prepare to protest against Mladic’s arrest.

“He is calling for there to be no bloodshed,” Saljic said after meeting Mladic in his prison cell. “He does not want to be the cause of unrest.”

Mladic, 69, was arrested on Thursday on a farm owned by a cousin about 100 km (60 miles) from Belgrade after more than a decade on the run from war crimes charges.

He is being held at the special war crimes court in Belgrade awaiting extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

SARAJEVO, May 28 (RIA Novosti)

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