Karadzic in U.N. custody in Netherlands

'A complex trial'
Speaking to reporters, prosecutor Serge Brammertz conceded the case would not be easy, but said his team would draw on evidence already presented in other cases since Karadzic's original 1995 indictment. They are expected to update the indictment before the trial begins.

"We will ensure that it reflects the current case law, facts already established by the court and evidence collected over the past eight years," he said.

Brammertz said prosecutors also would present evidence including audio and video tapes and witness statements.

"It will be a complex trial, like other cases before this tribunal," Brammertz said. "In order to prove these serious crimes, the prosecution will have to present a significant amount of evidence, including the testimony of many witnesses."

In the past, images played to judges at the tribunal has included footage of Serb forces gunning down unarmed Muslim men in a field near Srebrenica and photos of malnourished inmates at Serb-run camps.

Trial may drag out
There are fears that, like Milosevic, Karadzic will seek to drag out the trial by bickering with judges and prosecutors and using his defendant's stand as a soap box for his nationalistic views.

Karadzic's Belgrade-based lawyer, Sveta Vujacic, has said the former Bosnian Serb leader plans to conduct his own defense, but will assemble a team of attorneys to help him — a copy of Milosevic's strategy.

Vujacic said Karadzic has been preparing his defense during his years in hiding. Like Milosevic, he is expected to portray Serbs as victims of the Balkan conflict and claim his actions were trying to protect his people.

Karadzic was finally taken into U.N. custody after dawn on July 23, more than a week after he was arrested by Serb security forces while posing as a white-bearded new-age guru.

He was flown from Belgrade in a Serbian government business plane to Rotterdam airport and hustled to the nearby jail — most likely in a Dutch police helicopter that swooped into the tribunal's purpose-built detention unit inside the walls of a Dutch maximum-security prison.

There he will be allowed to mingle — and maybe even play pingpong — with former foes from Croatia who are one trial for atrocities against Serbs in 1995 and with fellow alleged Serb war criminals.

The center, which has 84 cells, has 37 other detainees, all of them alleged Yugoslav war criminals. Each cell, measuring 17 feet by 10 feet, has a shower, toilet, sink and desk.

Cell doors are left open most of the day, except for a brief midday period to allow for a change of the guards. Prisoners may have computers, but are not allowed Internet access. They also receive Dutch, German, Belgian and French TV channels, as well as satellite reception in their own language.

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