Former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia. His capture was announced by Serbian president Boris Tadic, who said the arrest was the work of Serbia's security services. Mr Karadzic has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995.

The top war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was captured while he was travelling in a bus in Belgrade. He allegedly worked in a medical clinic under a false name and had tried to conceal his identity with a white beard before his arrest, a Serbian minister said Tuesday. "Karadzic used false documents with the name Dragan Dabic," Rasim Ljajic, the minister in charge of cooperation for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said.

"Karadzic was not a Serbian citizen and he was very convincing in hiding his identity," said Ljajic, who during a press conference held up a picture of Karadzic with white hair and a long beard.  "He was working and performing alternative medicine, making money that way, he was working in a private medical practice, and his last residence was in New Belgrade."

He has been transferred to the judge of instruction of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade. It is not clear when he will be transferred to The Hague.

The UN war crimes chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, welcomed Radovan Karadzic's arrest. In a statement he congratulated the Serbian authorities, calling it "a milestone" in Belgrade's co-operation with the Tribunal. Mr Brammertz was unable to say when the former Bosnian-Serb leader will be transferred to the Tribunal.

Human Rights Watch: Major blow against impunity
The arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the former president of Republika Srpska, marks a major blow against impunity for the egregious crimes committed in the Balkans, Human Rights Watch said today.

"Radovan Karadzic personified impunity for more than a decade, but his efforts to run the clock on justice have failed," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "This arrest offers hope to the victims of the horrific crimes that occurred there. We welcome this long-overdue arrest and look forward to his fair trial in The Hague."

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has twice indicted Karadzic on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. One indictment is for crimes committed in Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb troops detained and executed thousands of men and boys. Eyewitnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch at the time described horror as the victims were lined up in front of mass graves and shot.

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander, remains at large. Mladic has also been indicted twice, along with Karadzic, on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. "That Ratko Mladic is still at liberty is a major obstacle to full accountability for the genocide at Srebrenica," says a HRW official. "The EU must insist that Serbia surrender him."

Genocide
The ICTY's chief prosecutor holds Mr Karadzic responsible for genocide during the war in Bosnia, and for murdering of 8,000 Muslim men and boys from the town of Srebrenica in particular. In all, some 100,000 people were killed during the war.

Justice
Internationally, the arrest of Mr Karadzic has been welcomed. The United States called the apprehension of the former Bosnian-Serb leader "a tribute" to the victims. EU chair France says the arrest will help boost Serbia's attempts to join the European Union.

Former US negotiator Richard Holbrooke, seen as the architect of the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian war in 1995, also expressed his satisfaction. Mr Holbrooke described Mr Karadzic as the "Osama bin Laden of Europe" and as "an architect of mass murder."

Joris Voorhoeve, who served as Dutch defence minister when Srebenica fell to Serbian forces in 1995, told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that Mr Karadzic's arrest brings a tiny bit of justice to the relatives of the thousands of his victims in Srebrenica. But, Mr Voorhoeve added, "nothing can ever compensate them for their suffering."

The former Dutch defence minister said it would be embarrassing if the Yugoslavia Tribunal were to close in 2010 without the arrest of Mr Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian-Serb army commander. In theory, it would be easy to capture the latter; it is reported that Mr Mladic has been living in Serbia for years. According to Mr Voorhoeve, Serbia's decision to arrest Mr Karadzic first can be explained by the fact that "Mladic is seen as more of a symbol of Serbia than Karadzic".

Sarajevo
In the Bosnian capital Sarajevo people went out onto the streets to celebrate Mr Karadzic's arrest. From 1992 to 1996, Sarajevo suffered a siege by Bosnian-Serb and Yugoslav forces. On Monday evening, the country's public radio stations re-broadcast some of the speeches Mr Karadzic made during the war in Bosnia, when he was the leader of the Bosnian-Serb community.