Budapest
22 July 2008
Serbia says war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic avoided capture forsome 13 years by living under a false identity in the Serbian capitalBelgrade and practicing alternative medicine. Stefan Bos reports forVOA from Budapest.
People in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, manyof whom lived through the Balkan conflict, have celebrated the arrestof one of the world's most wanted war crimes suspects, RadovanKaradzic.
The former leader of Bosnian Serbs had been inhiding since 1995, when he allegedly oversaw the massacre of up to8,000 Muslim men and boys.
Europe's worst single atrocitysince World War II took place after Serb forces under his controloverran the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Prosecutors say it was part ofa plan to carry out ethnic cleansing and bring Muslim areas underSerbian control.
Karadzic was charged by the United NationsWar Crimes Tribunal with genocide and and a number of other crimesagainst humanity for these and other atrocities.
Until Monday,Karadzic, who was a trained psychiatrist, managed to escape capture byliving under a false name and hiding his face behind a white longbeard. So convincing was his false identity, Serbian officials say, hehad moved freely in public without being recognized.
Hepracticed alternative medicine at a private clinic and lived inBelgrade, says Serbia's minister for UN Tribunal relations, RasimLjajic. "Karadzic used a false identity and a false document. He usedthe name Dragan Dabic. He worked in a private practices. And the lastplace where he had a residence was in New Belgrade."
Karadzic's detention has been welcomed by the European Union, United Nations and the United States.
Washington'sformer Balkan peace negotiator, Richard Holbrooke, said in televisedremarks that his arrest can be compared with the search for Osama binLaden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacksagainst the United States. "Karadzic was of all the bad men in theBalkans, he was the one I personally thought was the worst. I don'tthink there is anyone on earth other than bin Laden who is better tocapture than this guy," he said.
Karadzic's war time commanderRatko Mladic, who tops the most-wanted list, remains at large, althoughWestern and Serbian officials suggests his days at large are nownumbered.
Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic has told reportersit will take time before the wounds are healed of the Balkan's recenthistory and his country can become a multi-ethnic society. "For justiceto be complete we must erase the consequences of this genocide inBosnia. [Former Serbian President] Milosevic's and Karadic's projectsstill live on in Bosnia," he said.
But survivors of theSrebrenica massacre say Karadzic's arrest will help them to grieve overthe loss of those they loved with more peace in their heart, as justicemay finally be done.
A Serbian judge has ordered Karadzic'stransfer to the UN war crimes court in The Hague, but his lawyer hassaid he will appeal against that ruling within the next three days.
Karadzic'ssupporters staged a noisy protest in Belgrade, skirmishing with policeand denouncing the pro-Western Serbian government as "traitors."