The tribunal has successfully jailed generals, warlords and paramilitary thugs in previous cases brought before it but it has yet to convict one with Karadzic’s profile. The trial of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was a case in point and many think it remains a missed opportunity.

The court does have growing support and these supporters believe that the arrest of Mr Karadzic gives prosecutors another chance. However, Mr Karadzic, facing a possible life sentence if convicted, plans to run his own defence which is unlikely to make it easy for the prosecutors. Milosevic claimed this right and used it very effectively; the delays to proceedings dragged on for four years and in March 2006 he died of heart failure before it could finish.

"Two good trials are needed," says Richard Dicker, director of international justice at New York-based Human Rights Watch. "By ‘good trials’ I mean a sharp posing of contradictory evidence. These international tribunals have worked, you can’t make that point enough."

An effective deterrant to other tyrants and a cause worth backing or just platforms for those on trial?

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