The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, The Hague

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic faces a U.N. war crimes judge for the first time on Thursday to answer genocide charges after his dramatic arrest that ended 11 years on the run.

The man who led a breakaway Serb Republic during the Bosnian War faces two charges of genocide over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two.

He is due in court at 10 a.m. EDT after spending his first night in a cell at the U.N. war crimes tribunal detention centre in the Hague.

Since his arrest in Belgrade he has shorn the flowing beard and long hair that helped disguise him as an alternative healer in the years following the war. He was flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday morning.

The behavior of Karadzic-a flamboyant figure when Bosnian Serb leader-will offer an indication as to how he will conduct himself during his eventual trial, and whether judges can expect a repeat of the forceful display by former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in the same courtroom.

Just like Milosevic, who died in custody in 2006 months before a verdict was due in his four-year trial, Karadzic has suggested he wishes to defend himself, a move which could protract the proceedings.

Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said he would conduct the trial efficiently, learning from the Milosevic case.

"Of course it will take some months before the prosecution and defense will be ready to start. It will be a complex trial but we are fully aware of the importance of being efficient," he told reporters.