The Belgrade Specialized Court for War Crimes has ruled that Serbian Gen Ratko Mladic is to be transferred to The Hague.

The rule came despite an extradition appeal by his lawyers, with Mladic's family and legal team insisting he is in poor health.

The General was arrested Thursday and faces genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnian war. He was indicted in 1995 over the slaughter of about 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys that July at Srebrenica - the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II - and over other crimes.

Relatives of Srebrenica victims welcomed the arrest as a relief.

However, some residents of Serb areas of Bosnia expressed disappointment and staged a protest rally against the detention.

Meanwhile, Serbian President Boris Tadic declared the investigation will be extended to anyone, including members of the Serbian armed forces or police, thought to have helped Mladic avoid arrest for 16 years.

"In the next few days, we'll have a completed picture of what happened in the past two-and-a-half years, even more, in the past 16 years. And, for us, that is going to be very, very important," Tadic said, cited by BBC.

BBC further reports that Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor at the UN International Criminal Tribunal to the former Yugoslavia, has said he was considering putting Mladic on trial together with former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic.

Karadzic was arrested three years ago and has been on trial since 2009. Any joint appearance would mean lengthy delays in his proceedings, BBC correspondents say, as it could take months before Gen Mladic is ready to go to trial.

Mladic is believed to have gone into hiding after the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2001. Serbia had been under intense international pressure to arrest him and send him to the Hague tribunal.

Mladic was captured in the province of Vojvodina. He had two guns with him, but put up no resistance, immediately admitting his identity, Serbian officials are quoted saying.

The house, owned by a relative of Mladic, had been under surveillance for the past two weeks.

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