“WE have ended a difficult period of our history and removed the stain from the face of Serbia,” Serbian president Boris Tadic said in a triumphant press conference announcing the arrest of Ratko Mladic.

Ratko Mladic, the ruthless Bosnian Serb military leader charged with orchestrating Europe’s worst massacre of civilians since the Second World War, was arrested at a relative’s home in a tiny Serbian village today after a 16-year hunt.