http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,568082,00.html
07/25/2008 01:06 PM
FLIGHT FROM JUSTICE
Karadzic Also Lived in Austria with Fake Papers
Indicted Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic -- recently captured in
Belgrade -- also worked as a "miracle healer" in Vienna, according to
reports in the Austrian press. Serbian officials are trying to piece
together his life on the run and learn who helped him stay
underground.
Supporters of the soccer team Partizan Belgrade wave a flag bearing
Radovan Karadzic's picture Wednesday during a friendly match against
Olympique Lyonnais in Belgrade.As investigators piece together Radovan
Karadzic's 13 years in hiding, reports have emerged that he spent time
in Austria working as a "miracle healer" and using the identity of a
real man living outside Belgrade. The hunt continues for those who
helped the accused war criminal escape justice.
The Austrian daily Kurier has reported that Karadzic visited his
Serbian wife at home as a "miracle healer" in Vienna in mid-2006, when
the couple was trying to have a child. The paper's source --
identified only by a pseudonym -- said Karadzic used the name "Pera"
and was "very unlikeable" and "very haughty." "He was always dressed
in black and had a long chain with a cross hanging around his neck,"
the man told the paper. "He looked like an Orthodox priest."
The man added that he believed "Pera" visited Vienna irregularly,
typically staying for three-day periods and visiting the homes of
local Serbian families. The man also said Karadzic used a Croatian
passport.
Serbian authorities say they arrested Karadzic near Belgrade on
Monday. He's now awaiting extradition to The Hague, where he faces 11
charges, including genocide, before the UN war crimes tribunal based
there.
But Sveta Vujacic, Karadzic's lawyer, contested the official version
of the arrest. According to Vujacic the arrest took place on Friday --
and Karadzic was removed from a public bus in a Belgrade suburb,
hooded and taken to an unknown location for three days. "We have three
witnesses who have contacted us, who all saw this," Vujacic said,
according to the AP.
False Papers -- or Real?
Authorities are now trying to piece together the network that allowed
Karadzic to live with merely a disguise and papers identifying him as
Dragan Dabic. On Thursday police identified the real Dragan Dabic, a
66-year-old construction worker living in the Serbian town of Ruma,
just north of Belgrade. "Dabic's ID differs from Karadzic's only in
the photographs of the two (men)," Rasim Ljajic, a government official
in charge of investigating war crimes, told the AP.
The name Karadzic chose to hide behind appears to be a rather common
one. One official told the AP that there were at least seven Dragan
Dabics registered as living in the Bosnia city of Sarajevo alone.
Officials are trying to determine whether the documents are fakes, or
officially obtained copies. Karadzic is believed to have obtained the
papers before Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power in Serbia in
Oct. 2000, according to Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war
crimes prosecutor.
Vekaric added that Serbian officials have promised to track down and
prosecute anyone who helped Karadzic successfully evade notice of law
enforcement officials. "The point is to finish The Hague story,"
Vekaric told the AP. "Whoever was helping Karadzic was committing a
criminal act, and they know it."
Justice Delayed
No date has yet to be set for Karadzic's trial on war crimes charges
at The Hague, where he intends to defend himself, according to his
lawyer. In the meantime, Karadzic is being held in Belgrade, pending a
decision on his appeal against extradition.
Karadzic's family will not be allowed to visit him in detention.
Miroslave Lajcak, the Slovak international administrator of Bosnia,
banned the family from leaving Bosnia in January because he believed
they were helping Karadzic elude police. Lajcak has kept the ban in
place following Karadzic's capture. "There will be enough
opportunities in the future for them to see their dad, while,
unfortunately many people from Srebrenica will never be able to see
theirs," Lajcak said, according to the AP.
People will get a chance to see the former Bosnian Serb chief looking
more like his old self when he does stand trial: Karadzic requested
and obtained a haircut and shave Wednesday.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
