BELGRADE - Former Bosnian Serb interior minister Mica Stanisic left Belgrade Friday to surrender to the UN tribunal at The Hague to face war crimes charges.
An AFP correspondent in the Serbian capital saw Stanisic board a government plane bound for the Netherlands, a day after he announced his intention to surrender to the war crimes court.
He was accompanied by representatives of the Bosnian Serb and Serbian governments.
Stanisic, 50, faces charges of murder, persecution, extermination, torture and cruel treatment.
He was the interior minister of the Bosnian Serb government from April 1992 until January 1993.
The UN court said the accusations include responsibility for crimes committed by his subordinates.
Shortly before the end of Bosnia`s 1992-1995 war Stanisic moved from Bosnia to the neighbouring former Yugoslav republic of Serbia where he set up two businesses outside Belgrade.
In an interview with the Bosnian Serb SRNA news agency Thursday, Stanisic said he was innocent of the charges and was looking forward to his day in court.
"I do not feel guilty. I am ready for The Hague, because truth and justice are my defense.... I only need to tell the truth where justice is handed out and everything will be all right," he was quoted as saying.
03/11/2005 11:24 GMT