Top war crimes suspect Karadzic arrested in Serbia

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-22 10:02

Belgrade, Serbia - Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres and the politician considered most responsible for the deadly siege of Sarajevo, was arrested Monday evening in a Serbian-UN raid ending his 13 years as the world's most-wanted war crimes fugitive.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic (R) and his general Ratko Mladic are seen on Mountain Vlasic in this April 1995 file photo. Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men, has been arrested, a statement from the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic said on July 21, 2008. [Agencies]

His alleged partner in the persecution and "cleansing" of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, remained at large.

A psychiatrist turned diehard Serbian nationalist politician, Karadzic is the suspected mastermind of mass killings that the UN war crimes tribunal described as "scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history." They include the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, Europe's worst slaughter since World War II.

"This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade. It is also an important day for international justice because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law," said Serge Brammertz, the tribunal's head prosecutor.

A Serbian police source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media, said Karadzic was arrested in a Belgrade suburb after weeks of surveillance of his safe house and a tip from a foreign intelligence service.

Serbian President Boris Tadic's office said Karadzic has been taken before the investigative judge of Serbia's war crimes court, a legal procedure that indicates he could soon be extradited to the UN court at The Hague, Netherlands. Investigative judge Milan Dilparic said early Tuesday that Karadzic was "being questioned."

However, it was unclear whether Belgrade planned to extradite him to The Hague for trial by the UN tribunal, or attempt to try him in Serbia. Many Serbs consider the tribunal to be biased against them, but Serbia would gain international favor by handing Karadzic over to the UN court.

If Karadzic is transferred, he would be the 44th Serb suspect extradited to the tribunal. The others include former President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted in 2000 and died in 2006 while on trial on war crimes charges.

Serbia braced for a possible reaction from ultra-nationalists who are believed to have helped shelter Karadzic and Mladic over the years.

Heavily armed special forces were deployed around the war-crimes court in Belgrade as dozens of Karadzic supporters gathered nearby. Several were arrested after attacking reporters in front of the courthouse. Karadzic's brother, Luka, was also seen arriving at the location in central Belgrade.

Serbian police also deployed throughout central Belgrade as well as in front of the US Embassy, which was targeted in nationalist rioting over Kosovo's declaration of independence in February.

The White House called the arrest "an important demonstration of the Serbian government's determination to honor its commitment to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal."

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