The arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader, is a triumph for the rule of law, the pursuit of justice and the development of real peace in the war-torn states of the former Yugoslavia.

It has taken too long for the man accused of organising Europe’s worst atrocities since the second world war to be caught and put on his way to the international war crimes tribunal. But now that he has been captured, almost 13 years after he was first charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, Europe should breathe a collective sigh of relief.