Judge ends Karadzic's questioning, first step towards extradition: agency

An examining magistrate wrapped up the preliminary questioning of former Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic early Tuesday, the first step towards his extradition to the UN tribunal in the Netherlands, Beta news agency reported.

"The questioning is finished," the agency quoted Milan Dilparic, an investigative judge at Serbia's Special war crimes tribunal, as saying.

Dilparic refused to reveal any details of the questioning, saying it was "confidential," the agency reported.

In accordance with Serbia's laws, the preliminary questioning is the first step in the procedure leading to a suspect's extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

An examining magistrate has a three-day deadline to decide whether all conditions were met for the extradition, and his decision could be appealed by a defendant in another three days, Serbia's law for cooperation with the ICTY said.

The appeal is to be discussed by a higher judicial board for another 72 hours, but the board's decision is final, the law said.

Karadzic, 63, was arrested by the Serbian security forces late Monday, said a statement from the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic.

He was "brought to the investigative judge of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, in accordance with the law on cooperation" with ICTY, the statement said.

No other details on the arrest were immediately available.

Lawyer Svetozar Vujacic, Karadzic's legal representative, said the former Bosnian Serb leader "said during the questioning that he was arrested on Friday in a bus" in Belgrade and since been held in "detention in a room somewhere," Beta reported.

Karadzic, who had described the situation as a "farce," had used his "right to remain silent during the questioning," Vujacic said.

The lawyer said Karadzic, who had also been examined by a doctor, was "calm and composed," adding that he would remain in a special detention unit of Serbia's war crimes court pending transfer to the UN tribunal in The Hague, the agency said.

(Agencies)