Radovan Karadzic Biography

Summary

"Radovan Karad?i?" (Serbian Cyrillic: ??????? ???????; born 19 June 1945 in Petnjica, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia), known for some time as "Dragan Dabi?", is a former Serb politician, poet and psychiatrist and was a long-time fugitive from 1995 until 21 July 2008, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Presidential and government sources in Belgrade reported that he had been arrested in Serbia and brought before Belgrade's War Crimes Court. There had been an outstanding international arrest warrant against Karad?i? for more than a decade following Rule 61 of ICTY which concluded that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused has committed war crimes including genocide mainly against Muslims. The United States government had offered a $5 million award for his and Ratko Mladi?'s arrests. His life as a fugitive was the basis for the film "The Hunting Party". Karad?i? was arrested and arraigned at a Serbian court on 21 July 2008.

Early life

Karad?i? was born in Petnjica near ?avnik, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia to a family hailing from the Drobnjaci Montenegrin clan. His father, Vuko, had been a member of the Chetniks - the remnants of the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. His father was in jail for much of his son's childhood. Radovan Karad?i? moved to Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1960 to pursue his studies in psychiatry at the Sarajevo University School of Medicine. During 1974 and 1975 he spent a year pursuing medical training at Columbia University in New York. After his return to Yugoslavia, he worked in the Ko?evo Hospital. He also became a poet and fell under the influence of the Serbian writer Dobrica ?osi?, who encouraged him to go into politics.

Economical crimes

During 1983, Karadzic started working at a hospital in the Belgrade suburb of Vozdovac. The rest of the family stayed in Sarajevo and Karadzic commuted during weekends between Belgrade and Sarajevo. On 1 November 1984, he was accused of spending the hospital's money on building a cottage in the Bosnian village Pale around 30 kilometers east of Sarajevo. Pending the trial, Karadzic spent 11 months in detention. Due to lack of evidence, Karadzic was released and trial was brought to a halt.

The trial was revived and on 26 September 1985 Karadzic was sentenced to three years of prison for embezzlement and fraud. As he had already spent over a year in detention, Karadzic never had to serve this sentence.

Political life

In 1989 he co-founded the Serbian Democratic Party ("Srpska Demokratska Stranka") in Bosnia and Herzegovina which aimed at gathering the Republic's Bosnian Serb community and joining Croatian Serbs in leading them in staying part of Yugoslavia in the event of secession by those two republics from the federation.

A separate Serb Assembly was founded on 24 October 1991, in order to exclusively represent the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The leading Serb political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by Radovan Karad?i?, organized the creation of 'Serb autonomous provinces' (SAOs) within Bosnia and the establishment of an assembly to represent them. In November 1991, the Bosnian Serbs held a referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favour of staying in a federal state with Serbia and Montenegro, as part of Yugoslavia. On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly proclaimed the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina (????????? ??????? ?????? ????? ? ??????????? / Republika srpskog naroda Bosne i Hercegovine). On 28 February 1992, the constitution of the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted and declared that the state's territory included Serb autonomous regions, municipalities, and other Serbian ethnic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it was declared to be a part of the federal Yugoslav state.

On 29 February and 1 March 1992 a referendum on the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Yugoslavia was held. Many Serbs boycotted the referendum while Bosniaks and Croats and pro-secession Serbs turned out, and 64% of eligible voters voted 98% in favor of independence. However Bosnian law required the consent of all three ethnic groups. On 6 April 1992, Bosnia was recognized by the UN as an independent state. Karad?i? became the first president of the Bosnian Serb administration in Pale on or about 13 May 1992 after the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the time he assumed this position, his "de jure" powers, as described in the constitution of the Bosnian Serb administration, included, but were not limited to, commanding the army of the Bosnian Serb administration in times of war and peace, and having the authority to appoint, promote and discharge officers of the army.

Despite being a supporter of the idea, Karad?i? has not been hesitant to find support among fellow Orthodox countries such as Russia and Greece. In February 1994, for instance, he secretly contacted the Greek government and proposed the creation of a Greek-Serbian confederation based on the known Serbian-Greek Friendship, an idea which Milo?evi? had also proposed in 1992.

Fugitive

Authorities missed arresting Karad?i? in 1995, when he was an invitee of the United Nations. During his visit to the United nations in 1993, he was handed a service of process for a civil claim under the Alien Tort Act. The Courts ruled that Karad?i? was properly served and the trial was allowed to proceed in United States District Court. From 1996 until 2008, he was a fugitive indicted for war crimes by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; the Interpol warrant cites assault, crimes against humanity, crimes against life and health, genocide, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva conventions, murder, plunder, and violations of the laws or customs of war. The indictment charges Karad?i? on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) of the Statute) with:

Two counts of genocide (Article 4 of the Statute - genocide, complicity in genocide);

Five counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 of the Statute - extermination, murder, persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, persecutions, inhumane acts (forcible transfer));

Three counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute - murder, unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians, taking hostages);

One count of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions (Article 2 of the Statute - willful killing).

In his defense, his supporters say that he is no more guilty than any other war-time political leader. His ability to evade capture for over a decade made him a local hero among the Bosnian Serbs, despite an alleged deal with Richard Holbrooke. In 2001, hundreds of supporters demonstrated in support of Karad?i? in his home town. In March 2003, his mother, Jovanka, publicly urged him not to surrender.

In November 2004, British defence officials conceded that military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Karad?i? and other suspects to trial, and that putting political pressure on Balkan governments would be more likely to succeed.

In 2005, Bosnian Serb leaders called on Karad?i? to surrender, stating that Bosnia and Serbia could not move ahead economically or politically while he remained at large. After a failed raid earlier in May, on 7 July 2005 NATO troops arrested Karad?i?'s son, Aleksandar (Sa?a) Karad?i? but released him after 10 days . On July 28, Karad?i?'s wife, Ljiljana Zelen Karad?i?, made a call for him to surrender after, in her words, 'enormous pressure' had been put onto her.

The BBC reported that Radovan Karad?i? had been sighted in 2005 near Fo?a: '38 km (24 miles) down the road, on the edge of the Sutjeska national park, Radovan Karad?i? has just got out of a red Mercedes' and asserted that 'Western intelligence agencies knew roughly where they were, but that there was no political will in London or Washington to risk the lives of British, or US agents, in a bid to seize' him and Mladi?.

On 1 February 2007, Reuters reported that Karad?i? was hiding in Russia citing monitored telephone conversations, an allegation denied by the Russian government.

On 10 January 2008, the BBC reported that the passports of his closest relatives had been seized. In 21 February 2008, at the time Kosovo declared independence, portraits of Radovan Karad?i? were on display during Belgrade's Kosovo is Serbia protest.

Arrest

Presidential and government sources in Belgrade announced on 21 July 2008, that Karad?i? had been arrested and arraigned. A statement issued by the office of President Boris Tadi? said: 'Radovan Karad?i? was located and arrested tonight and was brought to the investigative judge of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, in accordance with the law on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.' Serbian security forces were credited with having located and captured Karad?i?, without any further details being given of the circumstances. Sources in the Serbian government told Reuters news agency he had been under surveillance for several weeks, following a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service. The arrest has been confirmed by the ICTY. If he is extradited to the ICTY, he would become the 44th Serb suspect to be sent to The Hague. The arrest came just two days before the ICTY's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, was due to visit Serbia.

He had been living in Belgrade and at the time of his arrest and was disguised with long white hair and a long white beard.Using false ID, and going by the false name Dragan Dabi?, he had been practicing at a private medical clinic, specializing in alternative medicine and psychology. He was apparently able to walk around freely and appear in public without being identified. Even his landlord was unaware of his true identity.

On the night of Karad?i?'s arrest, many people went on the streets of Sarajevo carrying the 1992-98 Bosnian flags to celebrate the arrest of the first president of Republika Srpska. Milan Dilparic, an investigative judge at Serbia's Special war crimes tribunal, terminated the investigation and ruled: 'all conditions have been met for his transfer to the Hague to face trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The decision could be appealed within 72 hours to the appeals board, and its decision is final. Karadzic was examined by a doctor, and would remain in a special detention unit of Serbia's war crimes court pending transfer to the UN tribunal.

Reactions

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it as 'a historic moment for the victims who have waited 13 years, a decisive step toward ending impunity for those indicted for war crimes.' Former US envoy to the Balkans Richard Holbrooke described Karadzic, 63, as the Osama bin Laden of Europe: 'Justice has finally been done. A war criminal cannot hide forever.' Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said 'the arrest of Karadzic was a major, if long overdue victory for international justice. This is late, late, late, but good, good, good.' But for some Serbs, Karadzic remains a hero, as 50 ultra-nationalists did protest his arrest in front of Belgrade's War Crimes Court. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said 'Karadzic's arrest would now help unblock a key EU-Serbia accord. We have to talk to the prosecutor of the international tribunal, but I am almost certain he is going to say there is full cooperation.' Lluís Maria de Puig, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), stated: 'Now justice can at last be done. The memory of thousands of victims of the Srebrenica massacre, the siege of Sarajevo and many other atrocities can at last be honoured. I would like to pay sincere tribute to all these victims. Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic must also answer for their crimes. The perpetrator of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II will now be judged by an international court. This is a red-letter day for law and for justice'.