Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic arrived in the Netherlands yesterday to face genocide and war crimes charges in The Hague after almost 16 years on the run.

Television images showed a plane with “Republic of Serbia” written on the side touch down at Rotterdam airport at 7.45 p.m. and taxi to a heavily guarded hangar followed by two black jeeps.

A Dutch police helicopter was waiting on the tarmac to take Mr Mladic, 69, to the UN detention unit in The Hague, the seat of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The prosecution has charged Mr Mladic, former head of the Bosnian Serb army, with genocide, persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts and cruel treatment for his part in a plot to achieve the “elimination or permanent removal” of Muslims from large parts of Bosnia in pursuit of a “Greater Serbia”.

He is accused of masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.

He is also charged for the 44-month siege of the capital Sarajevo from May 1992 in which 10,000 people died.

Earlier yesterday, Serbian judges rejected Mr Mladic’s appeal against a transfer to the UN-backed ICTY to stand trial for alleged atrocities committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Europe’s most wanted man was arrested in the village of Lazarevo in northeast Serbia on Thursday and detained by the Serbian war crimes court in Belgrade until his departure.

The ex-general’s appeal on the grounds of his “alarming” health failed and he was declared fit to face charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

Wanted on 15 counts, Mr Mladic risks a life sentence if found guilty.

Earlier yesterday Mr Mladic visited the grave of his daughter Ana, who committed suicide aged 23 reportedly because of accusations against her father.

The retired general was returned to his detention cell, and later in the afternoon flown by plane to the Netherlands.