A Serbian official has said that Karadzic would be handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal this weekend or early next week.

Bruno Vekaric, the spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, said on Wednesday that Karadzic's extradition was sought "during the weekend but it could be next week as well."

"The legal deadline for the appeal is three days. I am assuming the appeal will be launched on Friday, after that judges will decide when they make their decision. We are expecting the Court of appeal will not wait all three days they have to answer to the appeal, but we are talking about a weekend so all is possible."

Meanwhile, Sveta Vujacic, lawyer of the former Bosnian Serb leader, said that his client would defend himself if he is extradited to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

However, Vujacic added that he would try to delay Karadzic's extradition for as long as possible.

Karadzic was arrested on Monday night in a Belgrade suburb. The international tribunal indicted the wartime leader on genocide charges in 1995.