Radovan Karadzic will stand in the dock finally today at The Hague to be charged with genocide, 13 years after the bloody and brutal ethnic conflict that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Dr Karadzic, 63, is not expected to enter a plea to the 11 charges he faces at the war crimes tribunal but is expected to make full use of a 30-day deadline as part of a strategy to cause maximum delay to the process.

His mentor, Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serb President, used a similar tactic and died in his cell before a verdict could be reached.

After arriving in the Netherlands on an overnight flight from Belgrade, Dr Karadzic was read his rights and given a medical examination as he settled into the detention centre on the Dutch coast that held Milosevic until his death in 2006.

Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, hailed the capture and successful transfer of the former Bosnian Serb leader as a landmark for victims and international justice. Asked whether the trial of Dr Karadzic would draw on lessons from the trial of Milosevic, which lasted four years, Mr Brammertz said: “We are fully aware of the importance of efficiency.”

Dr Karadzic, now shorn of the long beard that he grew for his disguise as a New Age healer living in Belgrade, was whisked away from the Serb capital in the night after a 15,000-strong rally to protest about his extradition turned violent. In an hour-long battle between hooligans and police 46 people were injured.

“The arrest of Radovan Karadzic is immensely important for the victims who had to wait far too long for this day,” Mr Brammertz said. “It is also very important for international justice because it clearly demonstrates that there is no alternative to the arrest of war criminals. There can be no safe haven for fugitives.”

The arrest of Dr Karadzic marks a triumph for the pro-Western Government of Serbia led by President Tadic, which aims to begin membership talks with the EU this year. Serbia needs to demonstrate full cooperation with The Hague as a precondition for the talks but two suspects remain at large: the Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, 66, and Goran Hadzic, 49, who was Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Serb republic of Krajina in Croatia.

Svetozar Vujacic, the lawyer for Dr Karadzic, travelled with him and confirmed that he had not appealed against extradition but had used the suggestion that he had posted an appeal to delay the transfer so that his client was still in Belgrade for the ultra-nationalist rally last night.

Dr Karadzic has vowed to defend himself in court. It is expected that it will be some months before his trial begins, and it is likely to take several years to conclude.

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