Post by Baqu3ro on Jul 23, 2008 17:51:00 GMT 8
BELGRADE, Serbia (CNN) -- Former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic will fight extradition from Serbia on war crime charges, his lawyer said Tuesday.
A photo released by 'Healthy Life' magazine purported to be Karadzic.
An undated photo shows Radovan Karadzic with glasses, and with long, white hair and a beard.
Radovan Karadzic, shown here in 1995, is charged with war crimes relating to the 1992-1995 Bosnia conflict.
Lawyer Sveta Vujacic also disputed Serbian accounts of Karadzic's arrest alleging the man known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia' was seized Friday and held in secret for three days.
Karadzic, 63, is accused of ordering the deadly siege of Sarajevo and some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica
Vujacic said Serbian authorities were not telling the truth about Karadzic's arrest.
"Nobody seems to know who arrested him and where he has been since last Friday at 21:30 hours, when he was arrested," he said.
"He just said that these people showed him a police badge and then he was taken to some place and kept in the room. He was blindfolded ... he was kept in some room ... and that is absolutely against the law what they did."
Vujacic said he will launch criminal proceedings in addition to an appeal against Karadzic's transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.
A judge has three days to prepare for his transfer. Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said Karadzic has the right to appeal that transfer within those three days.
Serb authorities say Karadzic -- in disguise and using a false identity -- was working at a medical practice in Belgrade prior to his arrest.
Karadzic was so convinced of his disguise he regularly contributed to a health magazine as he brazenly built up his profile as an alternative medical pracsampayanoner, The Associated Press reported.
Goran Kojic, editor in chief of Serbia's "Healthy Life," released new images of the former leader hidden behind an enormous white beard, long hair and spectacles, identifying one of the world's most wanted men as a regular contributor.
"It never even occurred to me that this man with a long white beard and hair was Karadzic," a shocked Kojic said, according to The Associated Press.
At a news conference in Belgrade on Tuesday, authorities displayed another recent picture of Karadzic that showed him with short white hair, a long white beard and glasses. Before he went on the run, Karadzic was clean-shaven with a mop of salt-and-pepper hair.
Serbian minister Rasim Ljajic said Karadzic was using false documents giving him the name of "Dragan Dabic" and a non-Serbian identity at the time of arrest.
"It wasn't expected at all that this would ever happen to Radovan Karadzic -- that he would ever be caught in this way," said Ljajic, president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.Video Watch CNN's Christiane Amanpour chronicle the life of Karadzic »
The arrest has been hailed as a landmark for international justice and for Serbia, whose new government has pledged to bring its wanted war criminals to justice as a condition of membership of the European Union.
"We understand that there is an absolute determination by the state to finish this job," Vukcevic said.
Karadzic's arrest earlier drew jubilation in the streets of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, which Bosnian Serb forces had shelled heavily during the war, and a small protest from ultra Serb nationalists in front of Belgrade's heavily guarded war crimes court. Video Watch protests in Serbia »
Karadzic's brother Luka told reporters that he had seen the former leader in custody.
"Karadzic is in good health. He has lost a lot of weight, he is full of optimism," he said.
A photo released by 'Healthy Life' magazine purported to be Karadzic.
An undated photo shows Radovan Karadzic with glasses, and with long, white hair and a beard.
Radovan Karadzic, shown here in 1995, is charged with war crimes relating to the 1992-1995 Bosnia conflict.
Lawyer Sveta Vujacic also disputed Serbian accounts of Karadzic's arrest alleging the man known as the 'Butcher of Bosnia' was seized Friday and held in secret for three days.
Karadzic, 63, is accused of ordering the deadly siege of Sarajevo and some of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica
Vujacic said Serbian authorities were not telling the truth about Karadzic's arrest.
"Nobody seems to know who arrested him and where he has been since last Friday at 21:30 hours, when he was arrested," he said.
"He just said that these people showed him a police badge and then he was taken to some place and kept in the room. He was blindfolded ... he was kept in some room ... and that is absolutely against the law what they did."
Vujacic said he will launch criminal proceedings in addition to an appeal against Karadzic's transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.
A judge has three days to prepare for his transfer. Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said Karadzic has the right to appeal that transfer within those three days.
Serb authorities say Karadzic -- in disguise and using a false identity -- was working at a medical practice in Belgrade prior to his arrest.
Karadzic was so convinced of his disguise he regularly contributed to a health magazine as he brazenly built up his profile as an alternative medical pracsampayanoner, The Associated Press reported.
Goran Kojic, editor in chief of Serbia's "Healthy Life," released new images of the former leader hidden behind an enormous white beard, long hair and spectacles, identifying one of the world's most wanted men as a regular contributor.
"It never even occurred to me that this man with a long white beard and hair was Karadzic," a shocked Kojic said, according to The Associated Press.
At a news conference in Belgrade on Tuesday, authorities displayed another recent picture of Karadzic that showed him with short white hair, a long white beard and glasses. Before he went on the run, Karadzic was clean-shaven with a mop of salt-and-pepper hair.
Serbian minister Rasim Ljajic said Karadzic was using false documents giving him the name of "Dragan Dabic" and a non-Serbian identity at the time of arrest.
"It wasn't expected at all that this would ever happen to Radovan Karadzic -- that he would ever be caught in this way," said Ljajic, president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.Video Watch CNN's Christiane Amanpour chronicle the life of Karadzic »
The arrest has been hailed as a landmark for international justice and for Serbia, whose new government has pledged to bring its wanted war criminals to justice as a condition of membership of the European Union.
"We understand that there is an absolute determination by the state to finish this job," Vukcevic said.
Karadzic's arrest earlier drew jubilation in the streets of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, which Bosnian Serb forces had shelled heavily during the war, and a small protest from ultra Serb nationalists in front of Belgrade's heavily guarded war crimes court. Video Watch protests in Serbia »
Karadzic's brother Luka told reporters that he had seen the former leader in custody.
"Karadzic is in good health. He has lost a lot of weight, he is full of optimism," he said.