Karadzic hid out for 10 years

Serbian war crimes suspect to fight extradition to Hague

Associated Press

July 23, 2008

BELGRADE, Serbia - Radovan Karadzic grew a long white beard to conceal his identity and even managed to openly practice alternative medicine while in hiding, officials said yesterday in revealing details of the war crimes fugitive's capture after a decade on the run.

Karadzic, the wartime leader of Bosnia's Serbs, was arrested Monday night in a Belgrade suburb, officials said. A judge has ordered his transfer to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to face genocide charges, according to a war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic.

Karadzic has three days to appeal the ruling. His lawyer, Sveta Vujacic, said he would launch the process to fight extradition on the last day, Friday, to thwart authorities' wishes for his immediate transfer.

Karadzic - a psychiatrist accused of masterminding the deadly wartime siege of Sarajevo and the executions of up to 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, Europe's worst massacre since World War II - had topped the tribunal's most-wanted list for years.

Rasim Ljajic, a government official, said Karadzic, once known for his distinctively coiffed hairdo, was unrecognizable.

"His false identity was very convincing," Vukcevic said. "Even his landlords were unaware of his identity."

Karadzic used a false name, Dragan Dabic, Ljajic said.

The editor-in-chief of Belgrade's Healthy Life magazine, Goran Kojic, said he was shocked when he saw the photo of Karadzic on TV, recognizing him as a regular contributor to the publication.

"It never even occurred to me that this man with a long white beard and hair was Karadzic," Kojic said.

Karadzic's whereabouts had been a mystery since he went on the run in 1998, with his hideouts reportedly including monasteries and mountain caves in remote eastern Bosnia.

Serbian security services found Karadzic, 63, on Monday while looking for another top war crimes suspect facing genocide charges, the Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic, Ljajic said.

Karadzic "was arrested Monday evening near Belgrade while changing locations," he said. "International pressure was to arrest Mladic, and a few had expected that Karadzic would be captured."

His family in Bosnia, banned from leaving the country over suspicions that they helped him elude capture, asked yesterday for the restrictions to be lifted, his daughter told the Associated Press.

Sonja Karadzic said family members wanted to spend at least a few hours with Karadzic before his transfer to U.N. custody.

"We even suggested traveling under police escort to see him for at least for a few hours," she said. "For years we have not seen our father, husband and grandfather; my mother's health is not very good, and we do not have the financial means necessary to travel to Netherlands."

A judge finished interrogating Karadzic yesterday and issued the order for his extradition.

The complexity of a case that encompasses most of the worst atrocities of the Bosnian war, likely legal wrangling and a packed docket at the court in The Hague all stand in the way of a speedy trial.

"Karadzic is the second-most-important defendant that we have had. It will not be a quick trial, but I believe it can be held as soon as possible - possibly within a few years," one tribunal judge, Frederik Harhoff of Denmark, told Danish TV2 News.

Ljajic refused to reveal more details about his arrest, saying Karadzic's movements were being analyzed and would be kept secret until Mladic's capture. "We are absolutely determined to finish this job," he said.

Karadzic - disguised by the bushy beard and glasses - managed to move freely while living in a new part of Belgrade and working at a private clinic, Ljajic said, holding up a photo of a much thinner-looking Karadzic.