Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic has arrived at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Dr Karadzic landed at Rotterdam airport in the Netherlands shortly after 0600 GMT and was transferred to the court complex where he faces trial on charges of genocide.
“Radovan Karadzic was today transferred in to the Tribunal’s custody, after having been at large for more than 13 years,” said the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in a statement.
“Karadzic, who was arrested in Serbia on 21 July 2008, has been admitted in the UN Detention Unit in the Hague.”
His extradition, under cover of darkness, began at 3.45am – just hours after violent clashes between his supporters and riot police at a rally in Belgrade – when a four-jeep motorcade left the court building where the former Bosnian Serb leader has been held since his arrest nine days ago, and headed towards the airport. He was escorted by members of Serbia’s secret service.
The government said that the extradition had been approved by the Justice Ministry and the Belgrade district court.
After landing in the Netherlands at around 6am he was taken by helicopter the short 15 mile (25km) trip to the Scheveningen detention facility. Amid tight security, it was not clear whether he was transferred in one of the convoy of vehicles that sped from the airport to the UN detention unit or in the police helicopter that made the same trip.
He is expected to be quickly brought before a judge to be given an opportunity to make a plea but no trial is expected for several months. Karadzic faces life imprisonment if found guilty of the 11 genocide and crimes against humanity charges.
He faces a total of 11 charges, including two charges of genocide, for atrocities committed during the 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8000 Muslim men and boys.
