BELGRADE, Serbia -
Ultranationalists are planning a huge anti-government rally in the Serbian capital Tuesday evening, and Radovan Karadzic's lawyer predicted the government will try to whisk the arrested war crimes suspect off to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, before the protest.
Belgrade on Monday was rife with fears there could be violence in the streets Tuesday and that the ultranationalists plan to prevent the extradition of the ex-Bosnian Serb warlord by force. The rally organizers -- the right-wing Serbian Radical Party -- are busing Karadzic's supporters in from all over Serbia and Bosnia.
Ivana Ramic, the spokeswoman for the court in Belgrade dealing with Karadzic's case, told The Associated Press on Monday that his appeal had not arrived by close of office hours.
If the appeal does not arrive within a "reasonable timeframe," Ramic said, the court's investigative judge is to rule on Karadzic's extradition.
Karadzic's lawyer Svetozar Vujacic said he mailed the appeal at the last possible moment late Friday, trying to delay Karadzic's extradition until after the rally.
"Karadzic is a Bosnian Serb citizen, so it would be logical that the appeal was mailed from Bosnia," Vujacic said Monday. "I wouldn't rule out that my appeal grows a beard and moustache before it gets here."
Karadzic faces 11 charges at the UN tribunal, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. He is accused of masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo, which left 10,000 people dead.
Officials say the war crimes suspect was captured a week ago in Belgrade, where he lived under an assumed identity. His lawyer claims that Karadzic was kidnapped July 18 and held for three days by unknown captors.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said Monday a search of the Belgrade apartment where Karadzic lived yielded copies of wartime Bosnian documents, including minutes of meetings of the Bosnian Serb army chief of staff during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
The onslaught in Srebrenica -- considered the worst carnage in Europe since the Second World War -- came after orders from such a meeting. Dacic said the documents have been handed over to the Serbian war crimes court.
At The Hague on Monday, prosecutors were studying Karadzic's war crimes indictment to see if they need to update it before his trial begins. Prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran said prosecutors are considering recent jurisprudence and possible new evidence.
Karadzic's 11-count indictment was last amended May 31, 2000.
In Belgrade, lawyer Vujacic said late Sunday that he wants to prevent his client's extradition before the ultranationalist rally.
"They (the authorities) are using all illegal means to try send him to The Hague before the rally," Vujacic said. "Karadzic and I want to make sure it does not happen."
Once Serb judges decide on the appeal -- which they are likely to reject -- the case will be handed over to the Serbian government, which issues the final extradition order.
Karadzic's brother Luka Karadzic visited the ex-Bosnian Serb leader in a detention cell Sunday, and again on Monday, bringing him two suits.
Serbia's new, pro-western government hopes that Karadzic's arrest will strengthen the country's bid for European Union membership. Serbia had been accused previously of not searching for those sought by the UN tribunal.
Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said over the weekend that Serbia does not know where Karadzic's colleague, former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, is hiding.
