Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic was handed over on Wednesday from Serbia to a jail in the vicinity of The Hague, the Netherlands, where he will make his first court appearance to plead for charges of genocide and war crimes. The controversial figure was scheduled to appear in court today to defend against charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, willful killing, persecutions, deportation, inhumane acts, terror against civilians and hostage-taking.

With today’s hearing, which, according to The New York Times, is open to spectators and will be recorded by a court camera, begins the legal proceedings against the 63-year-old political leader who has been hiding for the past 13 years. Along with Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, Karadzic stands accused of atrocities against Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 Bosnia conflict.

Karadzic has evaded capture for 13 years while hiding under different identities, most recently as a bushy-bearded, white-haired practitioner of alternative medicine. According to a lawyer close to him, Karadzic said that he will represent himself in the international tribunal, just like former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in custody in 2006 months before a verdict was due in his four-year trial.

The controversial political leader dubbed "the Butcher of Bosnia" who led a breakaway Serb Republic during the Bosnian War faces two charges of genocide over two of the most dreadful episodes of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war - the 44-month siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre in which as many as 8,000 Muslims, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two.

Karadzic is due in court at 1400 GMT. He spent the night in a jail cell at the United Nations war crimes tribunal detention centre in The Hague. His decision to defend himself in front of the international tribunal could protract the proceedings.

"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," Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said according to Reuters.