Capture to boost chance of Serbia entering EU

THE surprise capture of Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, is expected to transform Serbia’s place in the world and greatly increase its chances of entering the European Union.

Serbian authorities had long been suspected of only half-heartedly searching for the former Bosnian Serb leader, who stayed on the run for almost 13 years.

With many Serbs supporting Karadzic as a hero of Serbian nationalism, some prosecutors had given up hope of putting him on trial for the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Croats and Muslims and an ethnic cleansing campaign that drove more than a million non-Serbs from their homes.