Karadzic Collared

(Newser) - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic refused to plead today at a UN war-crimes tribunal—so a judge entered a “not guilty” plea for him, the BBC reports. Karadzic, 63, was charged with 11 counts linked to the Bosnian civil war of the 1990s, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. He called the tribunal “a court of NATO” seeking his “liquidation.” More »

(Newser) - Radovan Karadzic says he can't possibly get a fair trial at the Hague because a “media witch hunt” has already proclaimed him a war criminal, the BBC reports. In a document submitted to the war crimes tribunal, Karadzic cited “drastic irregularities” in his arrest and accused the US of trying to "liquidate" him. More »

(Newser) - A freshly shaven and subdued Radovan Karadzic declined to enter a plea in his first appearance today before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the Guardian reports. The former Bosnian Serb leader said he needed more time to consider the charges, which include 11 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. He also confirmed that he would be representing himself, with the help of an “invisible adviser.” More »

(Newser) - Bosnian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was whisked from a Serbian jail and handed over to UN officials today to face trial at The Hague on charges of genocide. He's expected to appear at court today. The former leader of the Bosnian Serbs was escorted by masked officers from the Serbian secret police in a convoy of black jeeps for a flight to the Netherlands, Reuters reports. Riots broke out earlier in Belgrade yesterday as Karadzic supporters clashed with police. More »

(Newser) - Captured Serbian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic has been refusing to eat in his Belgrade cell since his arrest more than a week ago—but has been boasting about life on the lam. Karadzic claims he had planned to turn himself in next year, reports the Guardian . Karadzic was nabbed on his way to a spa outside Belgrade. He was carrying swimming trunks, a laptop computer, two mobile phones and small Orthodox Christian icons. More »

(Newser) - For all those who doubt the effectiveness of an International Criminal Court warrant, just look at Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Samantha Power imagined the arrest differently when she was reporting from Sarajevo in 1995, but his diminished circumstances now show just how crippling and demeaning it is to run from the international community, she writes in Time . More »

(Newser) - Bosnian genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic plans to defend himself when he stands trial in the Hague, his lawyer said today. He also plans to lose the Santa Claus beard and pony tail, having requested a shave and haircut, the BBC reports. Karadzic, a former psychiatrist who spent more than a decade on the lam, was posing as a doctor of alternative medicine in Belgrade when he was arrested Monday. More »

(Newser) - When Richard Holbrooke led the process that resulted in the Dayton Accords and the end of the war in Bosnia, he knew that sending Radovan Karadzic to the Hague was necessary to bring peace to the Balkans. Now, after 12 "inexcusable" years on the run, he has been arrested, and the former ambassador writes in the Washington Post of his only meeting with Karadzic, "whose enthusiastic advocacy of ethnic cleansing merits a special place in history." More »

(Newser) - Former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic is finally behind bars, but his alleged partner in genocide, Gen. Ratko Mladic, remains at large. Mladic is an even more ruthless figure who until a few years ago brazenly appeared in downtown Belgrade, attending soccer games and eating at gourmet restaurants, despite a $5 million reward for his capture, AP reports. More »

(Newser) - Bosnian Serb Radovan Karadzic, arrested yesterday on war crimes charges after a 13-year manhunt, has been living in Belgrade with a fabricated identity and a private practice in alternative medicine, the BBC reports. Karadzic, sporting a long white beard and the name Dragan Dabic, walked in public freely, police said this morning, purporting to be a non-Serbian citizen. More »

(Newser) - Serbian strongman Radovan Karadzic viewed himself as a high-minded intellectual but his hardline nationalism drove him to become responsible for Europe's most bestial atrocities since the Nazis, writes the Times of London. The former Bosnian leader, now captured after 12 years on the run, was a poet and author and worked as a psychiatrist for years before entering politics. More »

(Newser) - Serbian forces arrested Radovan Karadzic today after hunting the war crimes fugitive for 12 years, the AP reports. The former Bosnian Serb president, collared with other suspected war criminals, will likely be sent to the UN war crimes court in the Hague. The tribunal has indicted him twice, once for approving the murder of civilians in Sarajevo and later for organizing the genocide of 8,000 Muslim men in Bosnia. More »

(Newser) - He ordered mass murders, used gang-rape as a military weapon, and coined the term "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans War, but a dozen years later Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic still roams the hills where he once wrought havoc. With Karadzic still a fugitive from international justice, the Guardian traveled to rural Bosnia to discover why the West has failed so completely to capture him. More »