( CNN ) -- Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic , accused of masterminding `` ethnic cleansing '' deportations and killings of Bosnian Muslims and Croats , has been arrested after more than a decade in hiding , a U.N. war crimes tribunal said Monday . Radovan Karadzic , shown here in 1995 , is charged with war crimes relating to the 1992-1995 Bosnia conflict . Karadzic , 63 , is charged with genocide , crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war . Last seen in public in 1996 , Karadzic was the Bosnian Serb political leader during the 1992-1995 war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina 's secession from Yugoslavia . The conflict included the Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and a deadly , 44-month siege of Sarajevo . Former U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke blamed Karadzic for all the deaths in the three-year war in Bosnia , which had the bloodiest of the Balkan conflicts that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia . `` Without Radovan Karadzic , this thing would n't have happened , '' Holbrooke told CNN . Watch CNN 's Christiane Amanpour explain Karadzic 's rise and fall » . Early estimates of the death toll from the three-year war ranged up to 300,000 , but recent research concluded about 100,000 were killed . Vladimir Petrovic , the charge d'affairs at the Serbian Embassy in Washington , said his government 's security forces made the arrest , but said no further details had been released . `` I think this is an example that the Serbian government is committed to all its international obligations and that it will continue cooperation with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , '' Petrovic said . Serge Brammertz , the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , congratulated Serbian authorities for taking Karadzic into custody and called it `` an important day for the victims . '' `` It is also an important day for international justice , because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law and that sooner or later all fugitives will be brought to justice , '' Brammertz said . He said authorities `` in due course '' will determine when Karadzic is to be transferred to the tribunal at The Hague . Karadzic 's arrest leaves former Gen. Ratko Mladic , the Bosnian Serb military commander , as the top-ranking war crimes suspect still at large . `` While this is an important milestone , the work of the International Tribunal will not be complete until all fugitives have been arrested and tried , '' a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said . News of Karadzic 's arrest was greeted with jubilation in the streets of Sarajevo , the Bosnian capital , which Bosnian Serb forces had shelled heavily during the war . `` Today , I can tell you that I feel kind of good , '' said Zlatko Lagumdzija , a former Bosnian prime minister wounded during the siege . He said the arrest could offer `` a chance for new thinking '' in Bosnia , still grappling with the scars of war . `` Today it looks like a new wind is moving from Belgrade , '' he said . `` And I hope it will be a signal to Bosnian authorities that the state has to be set in order to deliver what the state is supposed to deliver : peace and justice . '' Karadzic , a one-time psychiatrist and self-styled poet , declared himself president of a Bosnian Serb republic when Bosnia-Herzegovina seceded from Yugoslavia in 1992 . The Bosnian Serbs , backed by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav military and paramilitary forces , quickly seized control of most of the country and laid siege to Sarajevo , the capital . During the conflict that followed , the Serb forces launched what they called the `` ethnic cleansing '' of the territories under their control -- the forced displacement and killings of Muslims and Croats . Among the crimes Karadzic is accused of overseeing is the massacre at Srebrenica , a U.N. `` safe area '' overrun by Serb troops in July 1995 . Nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed at Srebrenica , the worst European massacre since World War II . During the siege of Sarajevo , `` shelling and sniping killed and wounded thousands of civilians of both sexes and all ages , including children and the elderly , '' according to the U.N. tribunal 's indictment of Karadzic . He was removed from power in 1995 , when the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian war barred anyone accused of war crimes from holding office . But he remained `` kind of a Robin Hood '' to Serbs during more than a decade as a fugitive , said Holbrooke , one of the architects of the Dayton Accords . Serbia 's government has been under increasing pressure to arrest war crimes suspects such as Karadzic and Mladic -- who were believed to be in hiding in Serbia rather than Bosnia . The European Union warned in December that any steps toward allowing Serbia into the organization would depend on its cooperation with the war crimes tribunal .
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia . Karadzic charged with genocide in connection with the Srebrenica massacre . His military leader , Gen. Ratko Mladic , is still on the run . U.N. tribunal : It is an important day for international justice .