Hadzic Extradited to The Hague

A plane with Hadzic landed at the airport in Rotterdam at 14:30 and the war crimes suspect is on the way to the detention unit in Scheveningen.

Hadzic's departure for Holland came after Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic signed extradition papers.

"We have completed the most difficult chapter in Serbia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal," she told reporters.

Before leaving for The Hague, the arrested war-crimes suspect met his lover and their child briefly and visited his sick 86-year-old mother in Novi Sad, northern Serbia.

Police arrested the former leader of the Croatian Serbs in the Fruska Gora hills of northern Serbia on Wednesday. He was then placed in the detention unit of Belgrade's special court for war crimes.

A investigative judge ruled on Wednesday that all the requirements for Hadzic's extradition had been met. Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic was expected to sign the extradition papers on Friday.

Following his arrest, it emerged that the married father of one had conducted a secret relationship with another woman with whom he had a child.

Before his departure for The Hague, Hadzic reportedly asked that his two families be permitted to visit him. His wife, sister and son duly visited him on Thursday. The other woman and their daughter visited him on Friday at 8am. 

According to Belgrade media reports, Serbia's war crimes action team and security services had known about his "double life" for at least two years. However, in recent months, Hadzic had apparently not been in touch with either of the two families.