World saw the face of Radovan Karadzic, the “Butcher of Bosnia”, on July 31, 2008, when he appeared for the first time before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He has been accused for being the designer of the 44 month siege of Sarajevo, which resulted in deaths of over 10,000 people, and for being the originator of the July 1995 massacre, in which around 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed in Srebrenica.

Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, was finally arrested on July 21, 2008. He had been on the run for over a period of 12 years. Karadzic was ordered to surrender before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the head quarter of the International Criminal Court (ICC). He had disappeared in 1996 following the Dayton peace agreement at the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

Karadzic, the Serbian party leader in Bosnia and the president of the self-announced Serbian Republic, was one of the most wanted Serbian war crimes suspects in the U.N. war crimes tribunal. In 1995, Radovan Karadzic was indicted by the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia on 11 charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Karadzic is accused of being the mastermind behind the bloodiest massacre that has occurred in Europe since the World War II. If convicted of the charges, he will face life imprisonment.

During his trial, 63 years old Radovan Karadzic denied for entering a plea for one month. In his statement, Karadzic has stated about a secret deal between him and the US negotiator Richard Holbrooke, in which he was asked to disappear from public arena. However, Holbrooke has denied of any such deal with the Serb leader.

Serge Brammertz, the ICTY chief prosecutor, stated that this is going to be a complex trial. To convict Radovan Karadzic of the charges of genocide, a number of evidences and testimony of witnesses will be required. Brammertz said that his team will try their best to prove Karadzic guilty. He is also waiting for the arrests of Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb wartime commander and Goran Hadzic, who were associates of Radovan Karadzic.