Karadzic to be sent to UN war crimes court in Hague: prosecutor

Arrested Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic will be tranferred to the UN tribunal in The Hague once legal obstacles are cleared, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor said Tuesday.

Karadzic "was questioned overnight, his identity was established and he was given the indictment" of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Vladimir Vukcevic told a Belgrade press conference.

"An examining magistrate, I am aware, has already brought a decision that all conditions have been met for his transfer to The Hague," added the chief Serbian war crimes proscutor.

Rasim Ljajic, the minister who heads Serbia's cooperation with the UN court based in The Hague, told reporters that Karadzic was "arrested near Belgrade while he moved from one location to another."

The operation to capture Karadzic, the political leader of Bosnia's Serbs during the country's 1992-1995 war, had begun on Monday afternoon and was carefully planned and carried out to ensure security.

"Operational activities, information we got, led to the location and arrest of Karadzic," he said.

The information was obtained by following a group of people who were "suspected of being in a network supporting Karadzic."

Investigative teams were still trying to establish his movements, with the hope that the information can help them track down the two remaining fugitives of the ICTY, wartime Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

"We have two more indictees (at large) and we will use the operative data collected for (locating) them," Ljajic said.

Ljajic said the arrest "showed the absolute determination of the state to finish this job," a key condition for Serbia's hopes of becoming a candidate for European Union membership.

In a bid to evade capture, Karadzic had disguised himself with flowing long white hair and beard, and had used a false name under which he practiced medicine in a private Belgrade clinic.

"Karadzic used false documents in the name of Dragan Dabic. He was very convincing in hiding his identity, he was working and practising alternative medicine, making money that way," said Ljajic.

Of all the many fugitives of the UN war crimes court, the least was known about the whereabouts of Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb political leader who was arrested near Belgrade on Monday.

He was last seen in public in the eastern Bosnian town of Han Pijesak in July 1996, and previously thought to have hidden away in Serb-controlled parts of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Vukcevic, who heads Serbia's so-called Action Team charged with tracking down and arresting war crime suspects, said that during questioning overnight, Karadzic "mostly used his right to remain silent."

(Agencies)