Radovan Karadžić

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Radovan Karadzic

(born June 19, 1945, Petnijca, Yugos.) Bosnian Serb politician. He trained as a psychiatrist and also wrote poetry and children's books. In 1990 he helped found the Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, when the Bosnian Serbs declared an independent state, he became its president. With the support of Yugoslav Pres. Slobodan Miloevic and with Bosnian Serb military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic, Karadzic undertook a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia to purge it of non-Serbian peoples. In 1995 he was indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal. He was pressured into signing the Dayton peace accords and forced to resign as state president and party head in 1996. However, he continued to influence the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia and Herzegovina from a mountain hideaway outside Sarajevo. Despite attempts to arrest him, he was able to evade capture through the 1990s and into the early 21st century.

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Biography: Radovan Karadzic

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Radovan Karadzic (born 1945), the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, pursued a course of "ethnic cleansing" as he struggled to gain independence from the Muslim-controlled Bosnian government in the former Yugoslavia. He has been indicted by the World Court in The Hague for his actions.

Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serb faction in the war-torn former Yugoslavia, has been called a man guilty of war crimes, the "Butcher of Bosnia," and a world-class terrorist. His political opponents have called him a "black-shirt Fascist," and compared him to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. His program of "ethnic cleansing," which has resulted in the death of more than 200,000 Muslim opponents and the displacement of an estimated one million more - in addition to the systematic rapes of thousands of Muslim women by Serb troops - has sickened world observers. The New York Times has claimed that he is "surely one of Europe's most endangered men," who should include a bullet-proof vest in his wardrobe if he does not already own one. And New Perspectives Quarterly introduced an interview with Karadzic by opining that his political philosophy seems to be, "Do genocide unto them before they can do it unto you." All in all, Karadzic is not a well-loved man.

Although roundly criticized inside and outside of his country, Karadzic has the one quality possessed by almost every successful politician: he has endured. He has more guns and a bigger army than anyone else in the midst of an extremely chaotic situation, and because of that essential fact, governments have been forced to swallow hard and deal with him. In fact, as 1995 began, Karadzic was ignoring United Nations and United States diplomats and calling most of his own shots in determining the course of the Bosnian civil war.

His Background

Not much about the early life of Karadzic is known. He was born in Montenegro, which became one of Yugoslavia's six autonomous republics in 1945. In the early 1960s he relocated to Sarajevo to attend the university and ended up in a literary circle of poets and dissidents. Karadzic was educated as a psychiatrist but has always had an abiding love of literature and poetry. He studied both psychiatry and poetry in a year of graduate studies at Columbia University in New York City during 1974 and 1975. According to an interview in the New York Times, he especially likes Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

While in Sarajevo, Karadzic met and married another psychiatrist, his wife Lilyan, and they have a son and a daughter. Although he must have been aware of ethnic strife from his years in the hills of Montenegrin, he and his wife's family lived together in an apartment building in Sarajevo with Muslims, Serbs, Croats, and Croat-Hungarians. As Samantha Power pointed out in U.S. News and World Report, "It remains a metaphor for the Sarajevo spirit of coexistence: Even though Karadzic himself has been saying for years that Bosnia's three nations 'cannot live together,' all but Karadzic and his Serb in-laws still reside at [the building]."

Karadzic's daughter, Sonja, was identified in a scathing New Yorker editorial against Karadzic as his current main buffer against an increasingly hostile international press corps. "Only journalists who have produced favorable reports on her father and his followers are allowed into the territory under Serb control," editorialist Anna Husarska wrote in December of 1994. "Others are simply turned back at the border-control checkpoints. Thus, the outside world has largely ceased to hear about all the atrocities committed in the Bosnian Serbs' holy war of conquest."

Hatred of Moslems

As a psychiatrist, Karadzic worked mainly in state hospitals and focused primarily on patients with neuroses, especially paranoia. Some observers have noted that many of his political pronouncements - which the Washington Post diplomatically noted seem to be "misstatements of fact" - often are meant to instill fear and a measure of paranoia in his listeners. "He has dredged up old stories of massacres of Serbs by Croats and Muslims, playing on old fears," the Boston Globereported. "Some of the charges are bizarre - that the Muslims, for example, are sending out subliminal messages on Sarajevo television telling Muslims to attack Serbs and destroy Serb cultural monuments." The New York Times noted of Karadzic's probing into paranoia and his current political stances, "The irony is unmistakable, since what has driven the Serbs' offensive in Bosnia has been the deeply rooted anxieties of Balkan history."

The New York Times summed up Karadzic's and the Serbian point of view in a 1992 article. The paper reported, "A two-hour conversation with Mr. Karadzic, as with almost everybody caught up in Yugoslavia's disintegration, is a bumpy ride through Balkan history: the 500-year Turkish occupation, Europe's betrayal of Bosnia's Serbs at the Congress of Vienna in 1878, the devastating Serb losses in World War I, the genocide by Croatoan fascists in World War II. All this has driven a Serb conviction that their survival could be assured only by a "Greater Serbia," or at least by a pan-Slavic state, Yugoslavia, in which Serbs could dominate."

Greater Serbia

That background serves as a foundation for the war that broke out in April of 1992 in what was once Yugoslavia. When Bosnia declared its independence, fighting began. The bordering state of Serbia has supported Serbs within Bosnia - the Bosnian Serbs that Karadzic leads. The Croats and Muslims formed an alliance to counter the much better armed Serbian aggressors. According to well-publicized census data, before the fighting began, Serbs in Bosnia comprised about 31 percent of the population. Muslims accounted for 41 percent, and Croats for 17 percent. By the beginning of 1995, Serbian-backed forces controlled about 70 percent of the territory in Bosnia. The New York Times said of that 70 percent: "A horseshoe-shaped chunk of land, it was identified by Serbian nationalists and military planners in the years before the war as territory that would be seized and eventually annexed to Serbia if Yugoslavia fell apart after the collapse of Communism across Eastern Europe in 1989… . Similar maps have been drawn up since the late 19th Century as part of the nationalist dream of a 'Greater Serbia' in which all Serbs could live under Serbian rule."

Karadzic obviously has strong Serbian nationalist leanings. The Boston Globe quoted a high-level diplomat just weeks after the fighting broke out in 1992. "Democracy is not exactly triumphant," the diplomat noted of the Yugoslav situation. "It's more like a new brand of national socialism - fascism. That is what Karadzic embodies. And that is what is worrying."

His Image

However much his critics deplore him, Karadzic has generated an element of interest among those observers who are required to chart his political comings and goings. He is described as possessing a level of sophistication that one would expect to find in a well-educated medical man. He is "nattily dressed," often surrounded by bodyguards, and often to be found holding court in posh European hotels. And no description of Karadzic is complete without mention of his long flowing hair, or his thick clumps of eyebrows. The Washington Post once described Karadzic as "a robust bear of a man [who] talks as much as a traveling salesman."

Of course, at various times during the three-year-old conflict, which Karadzic has had a great role in prolonging, descriptions of him have been much harsher. Former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger pointed out in 1992 that Karadzic was a possible war criminal because of the ethnic cleansing policy he promulgated. In fact, when Karadzic traveled to the United Nations in February of 1993 for yet another round of peace talks to resolve the conflict, there was talk of denying him a visa to enter the United States. Five Republican senators signed a letter asking that Karadzic be denied the visa. The Clinton Administration, arguing that Karadzic should be allowed to visit the United Nations, nonetheless had reservations; a State Department spokesman was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "We continue to believe that this man has things that he has to answer for."

Ethnic Cleansing

Foremost among those "things" is the well-documented Bosnian Serb policy of eliminating Muslims from Serbian occupied land within Bosnia. Karadzic is generally viewed to have been handpicked for his position by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Together, the two Serb leaders have waged an ethnic cleansing campaign that has been denounced by the world community. Anthony Lewis wrote in a 1993 New York Times column, "The phrase 'ethnic cleansing' was actually invented by the Serbs for their operations in Bosnia. And everyone knows what it has meant: the murder of 150,000 Muslims [since increased to about 250,000] and the expulsion of more than one million from their towns and villages. There is no secret about any of this except to the willfully blind… . Serbian soldiers themselves have described the systematic rape of Muslim women."

In a November, 1993 article, the New York Times reported that Karadzic appeared "pallid and nervous, particularly when asked about assertions by Western governments that he and his fellow leaders will have to answer for war crimes that Serbian troops are accused of committing." Karadzic's long-standing response to those charges is that the Bosnian Serbs are merely protecting themselves from Muslim aggression. "I regret every life that has been lost," he told the New York Times, "But it is not the Serbs' fault." He has argued that allowing the Muslims to gain control of Bosnia will result in an Islamic foothold in Europe and the expansion of Islamic "fundamentalism." And he has stated, quite simply, in a New York Times article, "History has proven it…. It is impossible for Serbs to live together with other peoples in a unitary state."

Partition of Bosnia

Karadzic has always called for a partition of Bosnia into three parts, each controlled by a rival faction. He has said he would be willing to give up some of the territory his forces seized in order to get a Serb-controlled government in one of the partitions. Not everyone believes that. The latest peace plan - in late 1994 - had the country divided up into two portions, with the Muslim-Croats controlling 51 percent and the Serbs 49 percent. The Bosnians accepted it; the Serbs rejected it. When U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali traveled to Sarajevo in November of 1994 to meet with Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader refused to meet him at the airport. Boutros-Ghali, quoted in the New York Times, said Karadzic's snub "projected a bad image on his policy, on his attitude and even his personality." Karadzic did not seem to care. "As for the Americans," the New Yorker opined, "Karadzic has learned that when they start to get bellicose it is enough to whisper 'Vietnam.' The word alone seems to scare them witless."

The U.S. government did try to put pressure on Karadzic by applying the squeeze to Serbia and Milosevic. The United States figured that since it was not going to commit any military power to stop the fighting in Bosnia, it could put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs by applying economic sanctions to their suppliers - Serbia. But Milosevic refused to meet with a U.S. ambassador in February of 1995, further hurting the chances for peace. This came even though there had been a reported rift between Milosevic and his protege, Karadzic.

The relationship between Milosevic and Karadzic is often compared to that between Frankenstein and his monster, according to the New York Times. "Mr. Milosevic plucked Dr. Karadzic from obscurity several years ago and helped engineer his rise, but now finds he cannot control the figure he helped create." But the rift between the two men was characterized in other quarters as a ruse, set up merely to placate the United States and to get the United States to stop putting pressure on Serbia.

In late March of 1995, Karadzic made an offer of peace that surprised many observers, since he seemed to hold the upper hand in the fighting. Bosnian Serb forces were faced with a lack of fuel to power their army and Karadzic was seen as ready to make concessions. But the Christian Science Monitor quoted an anonymous Western diplomat as saying, "Now Karadzic is the peacemaker? I don't trust him." And in late April, the United Nations-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia formally named Karadzic as a suspected war criminal and asked that Bosnian leaders allow it to bring its own charges against the leader in order to prevent him from being tried twice - at the tribunal and in Bosnia.

The tribunal indicted Karadzic on charges of genocide, other civilian-directed offenses, and crimes carried out by subordinates, including murder, rape, and torture. The general commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladic, was also indicted. Karadzic flaunted the Dayton peace accord, drafted in 1995 by world leaders to end the war in Bosnia. One of the agreement's provisions called for him to relinquish power and hold elections, which he refused to do until the United States threatened economic sanctions. It is speculated that although he has claimed that he has stepped down, he will continue to pull the strings. If he continues his hold, perhaps military force will eventually be necessary, according to the New York Times, returning the threat of more conflict in the already ravaged land.

Biljana Plavsic eventually replaced Karadzic as Bosnian Serb president. However, she found herself locked in a power struggle with Karadzic's allies and fearing for her life ever since her outspoken attacks on the former president and threats to arrest Karadzic and his supporters for rampant corruption. Bosnian Serb ultra-nationalists loyal to Karadzic expelled Plavsic from the ruling Serb Democratic party in July 1997, demanding she step down from office. In response, she dissolved parliament and called for new elections on September 1, 1997, but Karadzic loyalists refused to recognize her decision and said they would continue to hold parliamentary sessions.

Radovan Karadžić Радован Караџић
Radovan Karadžić in Moscow on 3 March 1994
1^st President of Republika Srpska
In office 7 April 1992 – 19 July 1996
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Biljana Plavšić

Born	19 June 1945 (1945-06-19) (age 64) Petnjica, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serb
Political party	Serbian Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Ljiljana Zelen Karadžić
Alma mater	University of Sarajevo Columbia University
Profession	Psychiatrist
Religion	Serbian Orthodox
Signature

Early life

Radovan Karadžić was born in Petnjica near Šavnik, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia (SFRY) to a family hailing from the Drobnjaci Serb Clan. His father, Vuko had been a member of the Chetniks — the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's government in exile during World War II. His father was imprisoned by the post-war Communist regime for much of his son's childhood. Karadžić moved to Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1960 to pursue his studies in psychiatry at the Sarajevo University School of Medicine. He studied neurotic disorders and depression at Næstved Hospital in Denmark in 1970, and during 1974 and 1975 he spent a year pursuing further medical training at Columbia University in New York.^[9] After his return to Yugoslavia, he worked in the Koševo Hospital. He also became a poet and fell under the influence of the Serbian writer Dobrica Ćosić, who encouraged him to go into politics. Karadžić flirted with Bosnia's Green Party. During his spell as an ecologist, he declared that "Bolshevism is bad, but nationalism is even worse."^[10]

Financial crimes

Soon after graduation, Karadžić started working in a treatment centre at the psychiatric clinic of the main Sarajevo hospital, Koševo. According to testimony, he often supplemented his income by issuing fake medical and psychological evaluations to healthcare workers who wanted early retirement or to criminals who tried to avoid punishment by pleading insanity.^[11] In 1983, Karadžić started working at a hospital in the Belgrade suburb of Voždovac. With his partner Momčilo Krajišnik, then manager of a mining enterprise Energoinvest, he managed to get a loan from an agricultural-development fund and they used it to build themselves houses in Pale, a Serb-populated village above Sarajevo turned into a ski resort by the Communist establishment.^[11]

On 1 November 1984 the two were arrested for fraud and spent 11 months in detention before their friend Nikola Koljević managed to bail them out.^[10]^[11] For lack of evidence, Karadžić was released and his trial was brought to a halt. The trial was revived and on 26 September 1985 Karadžić was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzlement and fraud. As he had already spent over a year in detention, Karadžić never had to serve this sentence.^[12]

Political life

Following encouragement from Dobrica Ćosić, later the first president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Jovan Rašković, the Croatian Serb leader, he co-founded the Serbian Democratic Party (Srpska Demokratska Stranka) in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1989.^[13] This 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 Karadžić, 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 (Република српског народа Босне и Херцеговине / 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.

President of Republika Srpska

Main article: Bosnian War

On 6 April 1992, Bosnia was recognized by the UN as an independent state. Karadžić declared the independent Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, renamed Republika Srpska a few months later. Karadžić was voted President of this Bosnian Serb administration in Pale on 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 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.

Karadžić made three trips to the UN in New York in February and March 1993 for negotiations on the future of Bosnia.^[14] He also went to Moscow in 1994 for meetings with Russian officials on the Bosnian situation.^[15]

On Friday, 4 August 1995, with a massive Croatian military force poised to attack the Serb-held Krajina region in central Croatia, Karadžić announced he was removing General Ratko Mladić from his commandant post and assuming personal command of the VRS himself. Karadžić blamed Mladić for the loss of two key Serb towns in western Bosnia that had recently fallen to the Croats, and he used the loss of the towns as the excuse to announce his surprise command structure changes. General Mladić was demoted to an "adviser." Mladić refused to go quietly, claiming the support of both the Bosnian Serb military as well as the people. Karadžić countered by attempting to pull political rank as well as denouncing Mladić as a "madman," but Mladić's obvious popular support forced Karadžić to rescind his order on 11 August.

War crimes charges

Karadžić is accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of personal and command responsibility for numerous war crimes committed against non-Serbs, in his roles as Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb armed forces and President of the National Security Council of the Republika Srpska. He is accused by the same authority of being responsible for the deaths of more than 7500 Muslims. Under his direction and command, Bosnian Serb forces initiated the Siege of Sarajevo. Tens of thousands of non-Serbs were killed, hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes and thousands more were imprisoned in concentration camps where many died. He is accused by the ICTY of ordering the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, directing Bosnian Serb forces to "create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival of life" in the UN safe area. In addition, he is accused by the ICTY of ordering that United Nations personnel be taken hostage in May-June 1995.

He was jointly indicted by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 1995, along with General Ratko Mladić. The indictment charges Karadžić 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:

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 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).^[16]
Unlawful transfer of civilians because of religious or national identity.^[17]

The United States government offered a $5 million reward for his and Ratko Mladić's arrests.^[18]

Fugitive

Radovan Karadžić in January, 2008, appearing at a medical conference in Belgrade under the alias Dr. Dragan David Dabić, bearded and with his hair in a pony tail.

Authorities missed arresting Karadžić 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 Karadžić was properly served and the trial was allowed to proceed in United States District Court.^[19]

Some sources allege that he received protection from the United States as a consequence of the Dayton Agreement.^[20] Holbrooke however has repeatedly denied that such a deal was ever made.^[21]

His supporters say 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.^[22] During his time as fugitive he was helped by several people, including former CIA operative Bosko Radonjich and in 2001, hundreds of supporters demonstrated in support of Karadžić in his home town.^[23] In March 2003, his mother Jovanka publicly urged him to surrender.^[24] British officials conceded military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Karadžić and other suspects to trial, and that putting political pressure on Balkan governments would be more likely to succeed.^[25]

In May 2004 the UN learned that: "the brother of a war crimes suspect allegedly in the process of providing information on Radovan Karadzic and his network to the ICTY, was mistakenly killed in a raid by the Republika Srpska police." and added that "It is being argued that the informer was targeted in order to silence him before he was able to say more."^[26]

In 2005, Bosnian Serb leaders called on Karadžić 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 Karadžić's son, Aleksandar (Saša) Karadžić but released him after 10 days.^[27] On 28 July, Karadžić's wife, Ljiljana Zelen Karadžić, made a call for him to surrender after, in her words, "enormous pressure" had been put onto her.^[28]

The BBC reported that Radovan Karadžić had been sighted in 2005 near Foča: "38 km (24 miles) down the road, on the edge of the Sutjeska national park, Radovan Karadžić 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 Mladić.^[29]

On 10 January 2008, the BBC reported that the passports of his closest relatives had been seized.^[30] On 21 February 2008, at the time Kosovo declared independence, portraits of Radovan Karadžić were on display during Belgrade’s "Kosovo is Serbia protest".^[31]

Karadžić gave lectures in front of hundreds of people on alternative medicine. He even had his own website, where he offered his assistance in the treatment of sexual problems and disorders by using what he called Human Quantum Energy.^[32] He also used the site for the sale of metallic bullet-shaped amulets. He advertised himself as one of the most prominent experts in the field of alternative medicine, bioenergy, and macrobiotic diet. Karadžić had been masquerading as an expert in "human quantum energy" using the fake name "D.D. David" printed on his business card. The initials apparently stood for Dragan David Dabić, the name officials said he went by.^[33]

Capture evasion in Austria

There have been reports that Radovan Karadžić evaded capture in May 2007 in Vienna, Austria where he lived under the name Petar Glumac posing as a Croatian seller of herbal solutions and ointments. Austrian police talked to him during the raid regarding an unrelated homicide case in the area where Karadžić lived but failed to recognize his real identity. He had a Croatian passport under the name Petar Glumac and claimed to be in Vienna for training.^[34] The police did not ask any further questions nor demanded to fingerprint him as he appeared calm and readily answered questions.^[35] Nevertheless, this claim has come into doubt ever since a man named Petar Glumac, an alternative medical practitioner from Novo Selo, Serbia, claims to have been the person the police talked with in Vienna. Glumac bears a striking resemblance to Karadžić's identity as Dragan Dabić.^[36] On the other hand his nephew, Dragan Karadžić, has claimed in an interview to the Corriere della Sera that Radovan Karadžić attended football matches of Serie A and that he visited Venice under the false identity of Petar Glumac.^[5]

Arrest and trial

Main article: Arrest and prosecution of Radovan Karadžić

Wikinews has related news: Radovan Karadžić boycotts genocide trial

The arrest of Radovan Karadžić took place on 21 July 2008 in Belgrade.^[2] He was hiding posing as the doctor of alternative medicine mostly in Belgrade but also in Vienna, Austria.^[37] The reward money for his arrest was allegedly never claimed, however it is rumored that Karadzic was arrested by locals who came to find out his identity and simply claimed the cash. This would explain how the Serbian government claims that its police (MUP) had nothing to do with the arrest. Karadžić was transferred into the ICTY custody in the Hague on 30 July.^[38] Karadzic appeared before Judge Alphons Orie on 31 July, in the tribunal, which has sentenced 56 accused since 1993.^[39] During the first hearing Radovan Karadžić expressed a fear for his life by saying: "If Holbrooke wants my death and regrets there is no death sentence at this court, I want to know if his arm is long enough to reach me here."^[40] and stated that the deal he made with Richard Holbrooke is the reason why it took 13 years for him to appear in front of the ICTY.^[41] He also made similar accusations against the former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.^[42] Muhamed Sacirbey, Bosnian foreign minister at the time, claimed the existence of the Karadžić-Holbrooke deal that was made in July 1996.^[43]

He claimed there is a conspiracy against him and refused to enter a plea, therefore the court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf^[44] to all 11 charges. He called the tribunal, chaired by Scottish judge Iain Bonomy, a “court of NATO” disguised as a court of the international community.^[45]^[46] On October 13, the BBC reported that Karadžić's plea to be granted immunity from his charges was denied. However, the start of his trial was moved to October 26 so he could prepare a defense.^[47]

The trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was suspended after 15 minutes after he carried out his threat to boycott the start of the hearing. Judge O-Gon Kwon said that in the absence of Karadzic, who was defending himself, or any lawyer representing him, he was suspending the case until Tuesday afternoon, when the prosecution would begin its opening statement. ^[48]

On 5 November 2009, the court forcibly imposed a lawyer on him, and postponed his trial until 1 March 2010.^[49]

Poetry

Radovan Karadžić has published poetry. Several of his books of poems were published while he was in hiding.

1990: Crna bajka (Svjetlost, Sarajevo)
1992: Rat u Bosni: kako je počelo
1994: Ima čuda, nema čuda
2001: Od Ludog koplja do Crne bajke (Dobrica knjiga, Novi Sad)
2004: Čudesna hronika noći (IGAM, Belgrade)
2005: Pod levu sisu veka (Književna zajednica "Veljko Vidaković", Niš)

Quotes

"You want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina down the same highway to hell and suffering that Slovenia and Croatia are travelling. Do not think that you will not lead Bosnia and Herzegovina into hell, and do not think that you will not perhaps lead the Muslim people into annihilation, because the Muslims cannot defend themselves if there is war - How will you prevent everyone from being killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina?"^[10]

—Radovan Karadžić speaking at the Bosnian parliament, on the night of 14-15 October 1991, in a charged atmosphere in a debate whether to declare the republic "sovereign", which would mean that republic's laws would take precedence over Yugoslav ones.

Awards and medals

Literary award Jovan Dučić for poetry, 1969
Literary award Michail Sholokhov in 1994, by the Union of Russian Writers.^[50]
Ordain of the Republika Srpska, 1994

References

^ "ICTY Amended Indictment against Radovan Karadžić". United Nations. 28 April 2000. http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/kar-ai000428e.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
^ ^a ^b "Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic". BBC. 22 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7518543.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
^ "Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic". JANG News (JANG). 2008-07-21. http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jul2008-daily/22-07-2008/update.htm#02. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
^ "Karadzic lived as long-haired, New Age doctor". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL22936908. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ ^a ^b Mio zio Karadzic in Italia: allo stadio per tifare Inter
^ "Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic". BBC News (BBC). 2008-07-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7518543.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
^ "Case Information Sheet". http://www.un.org/icty/cases-e/cis/karadzic/CIS-Karadzic.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
^ "Bosnia, a 'world of parallel truths'". BBC. 2009-10-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8311452.stm.
^ "Karadzic: Psychiatrist-turned 'Butcher of Bosnia'". CNN. 2008-07-22. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/22/karadzic.profile/index.html. Retrieved 2008-07-23. See also: "Info on graduate studies at Columbia U.". www.moreorless.au.com. http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/karadzic.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ ^a ^b ^c Judah, Tim (1997). The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sudetic, Chuck (1999). Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia. New York: Penguin Books.
^ "Radovan Karadžić captured". Serbian newspaper Politika. http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Hronika/Uhapshen-Radovan-Karadzic.sr.html. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
^ "Karadzic: From Dissident Poet to Most Wanted". Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/11971/. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
^ "Doe v. Karadzic--Appellee's Brief". Yale University. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diana/karadzic/3junea.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
^ "Karadzic arrest hailed as step towards Serbia EU membership". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/karadzic-arrest-hailed-as-step-towards-serbia-eu-membership/2008/07/22/1216492402328.html. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
^ "UN Indictment". http://www.un.org/icty/glance/karadzic.htm.
^ "Karadzic will fight extradition". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7520682.stm.
^ "Rewards for Justice". http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=Karadzic.
^ Kadić v. Karadžić, 70 F.3d 232 (2d Cir. 1995)
^ Jon Swaine (2008-08-04). "Radovan Karadzic 'was under US protection until 2000'". Telegraph International. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/serbia/2496948/Karadzic-was-under-US-protection.html. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
^ Nick Hawton. "Hague probes Karadzic 'deal' claim". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062288.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
^ "Hague probes Karadzic 'deal' claim". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062288.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
^ "Radovan Karadzic: A Deeply Misunderstood Mass Murderer". Esquire. http://www.esquire.com/features/radovan-karadzic-1297. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
^ "Whatever happened to ... Radovan Karadzic?". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/01/comment.warcrimes. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
^ "Karadzic snared by spy tip and political will". The International Institute For Strategic Studies. http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/july-2008/karadzic-snared-by-spy-tip-and-political-will/. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ http://www.unhcr.ba/publications/B&HRET0105.pdf
^ "Nato troops arrest Karadzic's son". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4659319.stm.
^ "Karadzic's wife urges surrender". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4725923.stm. See also: "Radovane, predaj se!". Yugoslavia News. 29 July 2005. http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2005/07/29/srpski/P05072807.shtml. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ "Why Bosnia's most wanted run free". BBC News (BBC). 2008-06-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7477912.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
^ "Karadzic family passports seized". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7181568.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ Photos at "Belgrade Riots". TIME Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1715332_1538115,00.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26. and "Belgrade Riots". TIME Magazine. 21 February 2008. http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1715332_1538120,00.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ ""Psy Help Energy" Human Quantum Energy". PSY Help Energy. http://www.psy-help-energy.com/ "Psy Help Energy". Retrieved 2008-07-25.
^ "Karadžić radio kao lekar". B92. http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2008&mm=07&dd=22&nav_id=309674. See also: "Karadžićevi savjeti: Kod problema sa seksom najbolja je terapija u paru". Vijesti.net. http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/karadzicevi-savjeti-kod-problema-sa-seksom-najbolja-je-terapija-u-paru/395880.aspx. and "Karadzic hid in plain view to elude capture". WRAL.com. http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/3250779/. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ "Karadzic nannte sich "Peter Schauspieler"". Austria Press Agency. http://www.apa.at/cms/site/news_item.html?channel=CH0069&doc=CMS1217014246968. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ "Karadzic escaped arrest in Austria last year". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL543550020080725?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ "Radovan Karadzic may not have been in Vienna". EuroNews. http://www.euronews.net/en/article/28/07/2008/radovan-karadzic-may-not-have-been-in-vienna.
^ "Karadzic interviewed about details of his arrest". The Associated Press. http://www.wtop.com/?nid=383&sid=1444312. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ gmanews.tv/story, Karadzic being held in same jail as Milosevic was
^ bloomberg.com, Karadzic to Face Hague War Crimes Tribunal Tomorrow
^ Karadzic appears at U.N. court
^ Holbrooke promised no ICTY trial: Karadzic
^ US wants me dead: Karadzic
^ Karadzic-Holbrooke deal confirmed
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7587623.stm
^ cctv.com/english, UN tribunal enters plea for Karadzic
^ www.nytimes.com, Karadzic Declines to Plead at War Crimes Court
^ Karadzic immunity appeal rejected
^ Corder, Mike (2009-10-26). "Bosnian Serb boycotts opening of war crimes trial". Associated Press. http://dailyme.com/story/2009102500001650/karadzic-trial-set-start-karadzic.html. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8344851.stm
^ "Montenegrin PEN Center". Montenegrin Association of America. http://www.montenegro.org/pen.html. Retrieved 2008-07-25. See also: "Sholohov Prize to Milosevic". www.antic.org. http://www.mail-archive.com/news@antic.org/msg03067.html. Retrieved 2008-07-25.

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