The BBC's Gillian Sharpe: "Martinovic is charged with widespread ethnic persecution"

Vinko Martinovic has been flown to Amsterdam, where he will be handed over into the custody of the International War Crimes Tribunal based in the Hague, Netherlands.

Mr Martinovic, 35, who is also known as Stela, is charged with crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of laws and customs of war.

He was indicted by the tribunal in December and his extradition was confirmed by Croatia's Deputy Justice Minister Snjezana Bagic.

The move comes after the Croatian Government was accused by prosecutors in The Hague of taking too long over the extradition of war crimes suspects.

A Zagreb County Court has already sentenced Martinovic to eight years in prison for murdering a woman in the Bosnian town of Mostar - a case not connected with the war crime charges.

String of atrocities

Mr Martinovic was indicted with Mladen Naletilic, 52, who was charged with 17 counts of war crimes their alleged command of a paramilitary unit called the Convicts Battalion.

The unit is thought to be responsible for a string of atrocities committed against Muslims in and around Mostar from May 1993 until March 1994.

According to a summary of their indictment by the UN court, the two were responsible for driving tens of thousands of Muslims from Mostar.

Mr Martinovic allegedly commanded a sub-unit of the battalion and acted as Mr Naletilic's right-hand man in various crime rings operating in Mostar during the war.

Mostar was the scene of some of the most savage fighting during the Bosnian war, and the city remains divided between Bosnian Croats and Muslims.