Serbia is gearing up for protests against the arrest and transfer to the UN war crimes court in The Hague of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic..
Mr Mladic has reportedly called for calm, his lawyer said "He is appealing to people to calm down, there should be no bloodshed, he does not want to be a cause of unrest," lawyer Milos Saljic said. "He appeals for there to be no riots, for everything to be peaceful," Mr Saljic said.
The authorities have stepped up security ahead of the protest, called by the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, although they have promised it will be allowed to go ahead. "The police will not use force in advance ... only if there is a drastic violation of public peace and order," said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.
"Security measures have been increased to a higher level," he said, including around state buildings and embassies. "We are taking all measures to prevent an escalation of violence by extremist groups," he said.
Mr Mladic is expected to be transferred to the Hague on Monday or Tuesday, the Anatolia news agency said today, quoting the tribunal's acting president.
"Mladic might come Monday or Tuesday. Due to international law, he will stand in front of a judge immediately," said Mehmet Guney, acting president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), according to Anatolia.
Mr Guney said Mr Mladic would be sent to the court after medical, administrative and financial procedures are completed about his transfer.
The Turkish judge noted that the panel that will try Mr Mladic is ready as he has appointed three judges -- German, South African and Dutch.
"The trial presumably would last one and a half or two years," Mr Guney said.
Mr Mladic, 69, arrested last Thursday, was wanted by the ICTY for crimes including the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 and the bloody siege of Sarajevo during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.