Cordial mood awaits Karadzic in Hague detention unit

By Alexandra Hudson

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Radovan Karadzic can expect an en suite cell, home-cooked Balkan cuisine and a convivial atmosphere where former enemies play table football when he is transferred to the detention unit of the Hague Tribunal.

Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-95 Bosnia war and one of the world's most wanted men, was arrested in Serbia this week after 11 years on the run.

Serbian officials say he could be extradited on Monday at the earliest to stand trial on charges of genocide for the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica and the 43-month Sarajevo siege. His lawyers have appealed against extradition.

Karadzic would join 37 other suspects held by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in a purpose-built detention unit within a Dutch prison on the blustery North Sea coast, close to the resort of Scheveningen.

Four deaths at the tribunal, including that of former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2006, shocked and distressed the detainees, but it is also a place where former inmates say ethnic differences are forgotten and there is mutual support.

"You are not a Serb, Bosnian or Croat anymore -- you are just a detainee," a former court employee told Reuters.

Before his capture Karadzic, disguised as a new-age doctor, occupied a high-rise, concrete tower block in the drab suburb of New Belgrade and frequented a Serb hardliners bar.

His new home will be a 15 square meter cell identical to the one in which Milosevic spent the last five years of his life listening to Frank Sinatra music and planning his defence.

The court says the cells exceed international standards for space, lighting and facilities. They resemble college dormitory rooms with shelves, a television and table. Some detainees have spread quilts over their beds.

And Karadzic may have already heard a positive review of his new home from a Belgrade acquaintance.

"I was on holiday in the Netherlands, went to Scheveningen, and told him what a great place it is, with casinos, beaches restaurants," Zoran Pavlovic told Serbian media this week. "I said to him 'You must go and see it'."

ETHNIC RIVALRIES FADE

Released inmates say the ethnic rivalries that drove them to fratricide in the bloody wars that accompanied the break-up of Yugoslavia have faded within the walls of the prison.

Now the detainees, who in 2006 had an average age of around 52, enjoy their common language, cook Balkan food together in the corridor kitchens, watch television and play board games.

Most are Serbs but there are also Croats and Muslims. They can attend religious services together, take English lessons and pursue arts and crafts. Detainees take an hour's fresh air in the exercise yard but there is no mingling with Dutch prisoners.