In the worst of company: Genocide accused share wing at The Hague

Newly-installed last night at the international war crimes detention centre in The Hague, Ratko Mladic joins a who's who of accused genocidal dictators, warlords and mass murderers.

Set in a leafy suburb, the Scheveningen detention centre is home to the former Bosnian Serb military leader's one-time political partner, Radovan Karadzic, now on trial.

Other inmates include former Liberian president Charles Taylor, on charges of committing murder, rape and sexual slavery as he sought control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines, and Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga, who is accused of recruiting child soldiers. The complex, housing those awaiting trial for the International Criminal Court as well as the Yugoslav and Sierra Leone tribunals, is built next to an old prison where Dutch resistance fighters were imprisoned by the Nazis.

Compared to the prisons in the inmates' home countries, the detention centre seems relatively luxurious, however. For a start, this is prime property, about a mile from the beach. Then there are the facilities: detainees are locked in their cells - single, not shared, and about 10 square metres in size - from 9pm to 7:30am, where they can watch TV, read or work on their cases.

Each cell in the ICC wing contains a bed, desk, bookshelves, a cupboard, toilet, hand basin and a telephone. Detainees can work on their cases using computers but cannot access the internet.

During the day, they are free to mingle and can dress in their own clothes. But in the Yugoslavia wing, politics and court cases are taboo topics, perhaps to stop fighting.