War Crimes Suspect Hid In Plain Sight

Former Bosnian Serb Leader Disguised Himself To Elude Capture For More Than A Decade

(AP)  For more than a decade, the world's most wanted war crimes fugitive displayed a mystifying talent for eluding international justice.

Now, with his capture outside Belgrade, a picture is emerging of how Radovan Karadzic could have survived on the run for so long - and what finally may have led to his undoing.

In a ruse worthy of any thriller, the former Bosnian Serb leader completely transformed his appearance - from besuited figure with a shock of famous salt-and-pepper hair, into a man resembling a New Age mystic with a flowing white beard and black robe.

The professionally-trained psychiatrist was almost certainly protected by a coterie of hardline ultranationalists as he worked incognito at an alternative medicine clinic in Belgrade.

But with the recent election of a pro-Western government, pressures had been mounting to tighten the dragnet against the war crimes suspect. Many observers have long suspected that recently fallen prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, a nationalist who had close ties with Karadzic during the Bosnian war, had been shielding the war crimes suspect from arrest.

Karadzic's capture in a drab suburb of the capital Belgrade has broad political implications - for the future of war crimes tribunals, for eventual closure in the cycle of Balkan blood feuds, and for Serbia's fitful journey out of international isolation.

The wartime Bosnian Serb leader stands accused of genocide for masterminding the deadly siege of Sarajevo and the massacre at Srebrenica, Europe's worst carnage since the end of World War II.

"After Karadzic's arrest, Serbia is on a good road to the European Union and the arrest of the remaining war crimes fugitives," said former Serbian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic.

Karadzic's disguise was so effective that prosecutors say he walked freely around town without being noticed and even his landlords didn't know his identity. The photograph shown by prosecutors at a press conference was of a gaunt old man all but unrecognizable from the robust warlord who strutted brashly before his troops during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

The fugitive 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 Dabic, the name officials said he went by.

He even had his own Web site - www.psy-help-energy.com - and gave lectures in front of hundreds of people on alternative medicine. The site displays pictures of metallic bullet-shaped amulets and Orthodox crosses with wires running out of them.

TV footage provided by a local station to Associated Press Television News shows Karadzic sitting on a panel at a medical conference, glancing nervously at the cameraman next to him - another glimpse into his knife's edge life of hiding in plain sight.

Using his Dabic alias, Karadzic was a regular contributor to the Serbian alternative medicine magazine "Healthy Life;" its editor Goran Kojic said he was stunned when he saw the photo of Karadzic on TV and realized the bizarre truth.

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

Recalling past meetings with Karadzic, he said: "He was eloquent and a bit strange, like a true bohemian."

Karadzic's whereabouts had been a mystery since he went on the run in 1998, with his various hideouts reportedly including monasteries and mountain caves in remote eastern Bosnia. The U.S. had set a US$5 million bounty for his arrest.

For years it has been widely assumed that Karadzic's whereabouts were known to nationalist supporters and even to high-ranking Serbian officials. One cartoon depicted Karadzic clandestinely enjoying the company of Kostunica himself. But in the murky labyrinth of post-war Serbia, such accusations could never quite be proven.

The picture painted by officials suggested a successful search - as opposed to the end of protection. But few in Serbia failed to link the capture to the recent establishment of a largely pro-Western government committed to bringing Serbia into the European Union, which has been demanding the handover of war criminals.

Serbian security services said they found Karadzic on Monday while looking for another top war crimes suspect facing genocide charges, Bosnian Serb wartime commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, said Rasim Ljajic, a Serbian government official in charge of war crimes. The connection - why the search for one led to the other - was not explained.

[trishab4]

-The professionally-trained psychiatrist was almost certainly protected by a coterie of hardline ultranationalists as he worked incognito at an alternative medicine clinic in Belgrade.

-The trained psychiatrist was sick-minded... let him rot into a well deserved jail term! Or why not hang him up... and you GOPs may be happy now; here''s one for you!

[shazam111]

excellent news hang em high...worse of the worse kind

[bluestardad]

WHEN WILL AMERICA SEE JUSTICE WITH BUSH AND CHENEY TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES!

[juwboy]

It`s possible CBS knew where Karadzic was from the beginning of his disappearance.

Mike Wallace interviewed him for 60 Minutes soon after he went into hiding.

[rowdywicca]

WHEN WILL AMERICA SEE JUSTICE WITH BUSH AND CHENEY TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES!


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Posted by bluestardad at 04:22 AM : Jul 23, 2008

When will someone provide some proof that there ever were any? Seems like the investigation and impeachment process was hidden in committee two years ago when we sent a democratic majority to congress.

[babooph]

All he has to do is invoke "executive privilege" saying his nations national security is at stake-it works for our US criminals.

[brianbwb-2009]

"When will someone provide some proof that there ever were any? Seems like the investigation and impeachment process was hidden in committee two years ago when we sent a democratic majority to congress." Posted by RowdyWicca

How about torture, internationally recognized as a war crime. (but of course you would then say that Bush did not cause the tortures at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, I already know you will try that lie.)

How about the invasion and occupation of a sovereign state that was no threat to the US? That is also recognized internationally as a violation of the Geneva Convention, to which the US is also a signatory, making it a war crime.

Bush is personally responsible for the deaths of over a million people who were no threat to us, if you don''t recognize that as a serious war crime of mass murder, then you are either being paid to post lunacy, or you have a mental defect that precludes your seeing the wrong.

[kennedy7955]

WHEN WILL AMERICA SEE JUSTICE WITH BUSH AND CHENEY TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES! Posted by bluestardad"

Answer: When hell freezes over. We can''t even get these guys impeached.

[kennedy7955]

"I just feel a little strange that someone is keeping saying some celebrities and rich men joined the famous affairs site .com. Did you notice that? absolutely a rumor! Posted by zhangwuji"

Where is censorship from the CBS online mediator when we need it?

[ioweign]

When will someone provide some proof that there ever were any? Seems like the investigation and impeachment process was hidden in committee two years ago when we sent a democratic majority to congress.

Posted by RowdyWicca at 08:10 AM : Jul 23, 2008

In a speech on the House floor on April 15, 1970, Ford asked the question: "What, then, is an impeachable offense?" His response: "The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body [the Senate] considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office."

[ioweign]

WHEN WILL AMERICA SEE JUSTICE WITH BUSH AND CHENEY TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES!

Posted by bluestardad at 04:22 AM : Jul 23, 2008

When will someone provide some proof that there ever were any? Seems like the investigation and impeachment process was hidden in committee two years ago when we sent a democratic majority to congress.

Posted by RowdyWicca at 08:10 AM : Jul 23, 2008

Just look at Iraq...

[libsluv2spit]

Just look at Iraq...




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Posted by IOWEIGN at 03:52 PM : Jul 23, 2008
+ report abuse


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what about it?? the DNC has so many ''allegations'' enough to disband the whole republican party..BUT THEY CANT...because you cannot impeach, convict or even bring charges when the body of your evidence was fabricated by the liberal media..

THAT OR THE DNC ARE JUST A BUNCH OF USELESS AND WEAKMINDED CHILDREN INCAPABLE OF FINISHING ANYTHING.

[libsluv2spit]

After reading most post from these liberals..its seems like they are more interested in using this forum to attack bush than to seeing the injustice Radovan Karadzic had bestowed on his own people.