Radovan Karadzic was expected on Friday to appeal against his transfer to the United Nations war-crimes court, as more revelations emerged about the bogus life he assumed as a health guru to avoid justice.
Karadzic, who stands indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity, was arrested in Belgrade on Monday, having evaded capture for more than a decade.
His lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, said he would lodge the appeal against Karadzic’s transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) through the post at the last minute.
”They will not be able to make a decision before Monday because I will send the appeal on Friday,” Vujacic said, confirming he intends to delay the transfer for as long as possible.
Legally, the appeal can be sent through regular mail as late as 7.55pm local time on Friday, five minutes before post offices close. A three-judge panel of Serbia’s special war-crimes court then has three days to decide on its merits.
As the deadline loomed, reports emerged that Karadzic had travelled as far as Austria and Italy under his new identity as Dr Dragan Dabic to treat patients using methods including ”quantum medicine” and ”bio-energy”.
An Austrian-Serb couple said in Vienna newspaper Kurier they had recognised pictures of the captured Karadzic as the healer who until just over a year ago had treated the wife to help her fall pregnant.
Another daily, Oesterreich, said he treated patients for erectile dysfunction, rheumatism and headaches, with alternative treatments such as the laying on of hands or by selling potions to his patients.
Separately, an alternative health colleague told an Italian daily that Karadzic only ever performed good deeds and showed great knowledge in his acquired field.
”We met about seven or eight months ago during an alternative medicine seminar in Belgrade. Dabic was very competent in his field, which fascinated me,” Mila Damianov told La Repubblica.
”When I heard the news, I thought it must have been a mistake,” she said, adding: ”I’m not angry at him. For me, he remains an exceptional person. Personally, I’ve only seen Dr Dabic do good.”
Asked about reports that Karadzic could be transferred to The Hague at the weekend, a Serbian court official said that the panel of judges was unable to meet on Saturdays and Sundays.
The delaying tactic could give his Bosnia-based family, including wife Ljiljana and daughter Sonja, enough time to get back confiscated travel papers and see him before his transfer.
Vujacic has said Karadzic intends to defend himself before the UN court, mirroring the tactics of his late ally, Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his The Hague cell before a verdict could be delivered.
Karadzic (63) is wanted for orchestrating two of Europe’s worst atrocities since World War II, the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, which killed more than 10 000 people, and Srebrenica massacre of about 8 000 Muslim males.
The wartime Bosnian Serb leader went into hiding the year after the ICTY indicted him in 1995.
He faces charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, wilful killing, persecutions, deportation and inhumane acts against Muslims, Croats and other non-Serb civilians.
Karadzic’s capture has raised tensions in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where about 1 000 ultra-nationalists have gathered for three consecutive days of protests in which journalists have been attacked.
In addition, high-ranking officials linked to the arrest of Karadzic, including President Boris Tadic, have been placed under the tightest level of security having received death threats, the daily, Blic, reported on Friday. — AFP
