Karadzic Extradited To War Crimes Tribunal

A U.N. spokesman said Wednesday that ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was in the custody of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.

Spokesman Liam McDowall confirmed Karadzic was at the U.N. detention center near The Hague, where he will stand trial for genocide.

The confirmation came shortly after a helicopter landed behind the high wall of the jail while another helicopter hovered overhead. Two black minivans drove through the prison gates moments earlier.

Karadzic faces 11 counts including genocide, extermination and persecution in the 1992-1995 Bosnian wars. Prosecutors allege he masterminded atrocities including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and the deadly siege of Sarajevo.

A business jet with Serbian government markings delivered Karadzic to the Netherlands earlier Wednesday morning.

The Serbian government said in a statement issued early Wednesday that it had issued a decree that allowed his handover.

Officials say the war crimes suspect was captured July 21 in Belgrade, where he lived under the assumed identity of a health guru, with long white beard and hair, and large glasses.

"The speedy transfer of Karadzic to the war crimes tribunal underscores the resolve of the government of President Boris Tadic to bring Serbia into the European community and to cap the rise of Serbian radical nationalism," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

"The trial itself, which will be lengthy, will strengthen the rule of law in these international tribunals because the prosecutor in this U.N.-authorized court will have to prove Karadzic's direct command responsibility for the eleven counts of genocide and war crimes," added Falk, "and the next step for Serbia will be to deliver Karadzic's military chief, General Ratko Mladic to the court."

Mladic has been successfully evading capture. Many believe he is still in Serbia, being hidden by supporters in the nationalist movement.

"They need Mladic," Col. Bob Stewart, a former NATO commander in the Balkan wars and an analyst on the region, told the British Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday.

He said without Mladic, the tribunal would have difficulty in convicting the fallen politician, "because Karadzic is going to say, 'I wasn't there, I wasn't at Srebrenica, so don't charge me with genocide.'"

Karadzic's extradition came after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-hurling extremists in downtown Belgrade Tuesday night as ultranationalists protested the government's plans to extradite Karadzic.

In anticipation of clashes, riot police had deployed across the capital and heavily armed anti-terrorist troops guarded the U.S. Embassy as busloads of ultranationalists arrived from all over Serbia and Bosnia for the anti-government rally dubbed "Freedom for Serbia."

While about 15,000 Serb extremists attended the rally in a main square, several hundred hooligans separated from the group and began hurling stones and burning flares at riot police.

Later, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at large groups of demonstrators, trying to push them away from the square as the rally ended. Police blocked off streets in several areas of Belgrade, stopping traffic and not allowing demonstrators to pass.

Belgrade's emergency clinic reported that 46 people were injured, including 25 policemen and 21 civilians. Most were lightly injured, doctors said, adding that only one civilian and one policeman were hospitalized. A Spanish TV journalist was among the injured.

The downtown area was strewn with debris after the clashes, littered with glass from smashed-up shop windows and garbage from overturned cans. Ambulance sirens blared as paramedics raced to help the injured.

Three people were arrested Tuesday night after they smashed windows of a McDonald's restaurant during the protest, police said.

Karadzic, considered one of Europe's most wanted suspects, is accused by the U.N. court of masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica and the more than three-year siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 people dead.