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Close, But No Karadzic; Accused War Criminal Still at Large
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ShareMarch 01, 2007 10:55 AM
A reported sighting in Panama of one of the most wanted men in the world, accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic, the former Serbian political leader, led to a four-nation police scramble and a raid on the homes of his son and daughter last week by NATO troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In the end, it produced nothing more than another frustration for the authorities who have been seeking Karadzic since 1995 on war crimes charges involving the murders and rapes of thousands of Muslim civilians and the shelling of the city of Sarajevo.
There is intense pressure to capture Karadzic, who could escape prosecution if he is not in custody by the time the war crimes tribunal expires in 2010.
Click Here for Photos of Radovan Karadzic and the Acts of Genocide of Which He Is Accused.
"That would absolutely be a disaster for justice," said Carla Del Ponte, the war crimes tribunal prosecutor in the Hague in the Netherlands.
Law enforcement authorities tell ABC News the international scramble began last week when an American, who had been in Bosnia during the war, reported seeing a man he thought was Karadzic in the lobby of a hotel in Panama City, Panama.
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
At the request of the FBI representative in Panama, the man was taken in for questioning by Panamanian authorities.
The man reportedly told authorities he was an honest businessman from Serbia living in South Toronto, Canada with landed immigrant status.
But authorities suspected he might have had plastic surgery, and at one point Canadian authorities reported they were "95 percent certain it was Karadzic," based on a comparison with an old photo.
On Feb. 19, authorities then asked NATO troops to raid the homes of Karadzic's son and daughter in Bosnia-Herzegovina to obtain a toothbrush or other items that might provide DNA samples.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
But this week law enforcement authorities told ABC News that police in Canada had concluded the man was not Karadzic.
Prosecutor Del Ponte told ABC News it was just the latest in a series of false alarms. She believes he continues to hide in Serbia.
"All the information we have with my tracking team and with intelligence services is that Karadzic is there and really I cannot find a reason why he would quit the region," Del Ponte told ABC News.
The United States has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of the Karadzic, but the prosecutor says she is concerned U.S. diplomats are not doing all they can to pressure Serbia to find him.
"I would like to have more presence from the United States on this issue," she said.
A State Department sokesperson told ABC News today, "The United States wants to see Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and all fugitive persons indicted for war crimes transferred to The Hague as soon as possible."
March 1, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (13)
Long Live Radovan!
Posted by: Tom | Mar 1, 2007 2:30:08 PM
No where to run, no where to hide baby.
Posted by: Mike Jones | Mar 1, 2007 5:29:37 PM
"...if he is not in custody by the time the war crimes tribunal expires in 2010. ..." I don't understand it. What expires? War crimes should never expire!
Posted by: Al | Mar 1, 2007 5:40:59 PM
no where to hide?then how come they haven't caught him since 1995??
Posted by: stephen | Mar 1, 2007 7:54:48 PM
You can run but you can't hide forever, and evidently he doesn't have to!
Posted by: erick morton | Mar 1, 2007 9:20:48 PM
He's a thug and a murder -- no hero at all. He led Holy Serbia to ruin, smeared himself with the blood of innocents, and has the most suck hairdo of any despot in modern history.
I pray, through the graces of St. Nikolai, that this monster be brought to justice so that Serbia may regain its honor.
Posted by: nikolai | Mar 2, 2007 12:37:19 AM
There is no South Toronto. The southern edge of Toronto is Lake Ontario. The whole story sounds like a cooked up fabrication to justify a raid in Bosnia just before the ICJ Serbia genocide decision; a ruling that NATO and Bosnian authorities no doubt knew before hand did not go in their favour.
Posted by: Aleks | Mar 2, 2007 10:29:35 AM
they should ley him go who cares about what he did many people die every day
Posted by: Frank | Mar 2, 2007 10:55:14 AM
3*** Wes Clark at the time traded hats with General RatKo Mladic? and then condemns President Bush for not getting U.B.L?
psst....dont look now but the K.L.A. AN USAMAH are still acting up there! some people believe we bombed the wrong people? we took the wrong side? dont neccassry agree with that, but we should not have let General Rat-ko Mladic walk........
Posted by: Peter Toto | Mar 4, 2007 2:01:17 PM
Photo Blunder.
The skinny man in your photo referred to as a Muslim prisoner is the Serb Slobodan Konjevic, who was arrested by Karadzic's police for stealing from Muslims. His sister (living in Vienna) identified him and noted he had suffered from TB.
You have comfused him with the equally tubercular Muslim Fikret Alic, who appeared in the ITN that helped kick off the Bosnia waRr on the Serbs. The scene was a shelter for displaced persons; the "prisoners" were OUTSIDE the barbed wire and the ITN inside a fenced area. If you look at the ITN footage you will see that Alic is among very well-nourished Mehmet. who says the treatment is "kind, very kind." His complaint: "it's hot, very hot."
Posted by: j p maher | Mar 4, 2007 2:28:06 PM
In light of the decision by the ICJ that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, Bosnia, it is amazing that some of the posts defend Radovan's actions. Bosnian Muslims were innocent victims of the most violent war crimes since World War II - they are NOT the perpetrators, but simply innocent human beings.
Posted by: anonymous | Mar 5, 2007 8:39:00 AM
j p maher...
The INS deported many Bosnian Serbs and their families for lying about their military history on their immigration papers, nothing more, nohting less. It is a crime to withold information on a INS application form and this crime is punishable by deportation. They knew that the minute they submitted a document to the government filled with half-truths. Karadzic a hero? The Republika Srpska was suppoosed to be a haven for Serbs to frolick and grow after the war. The RS is still a nationalistic black eye in the one of the worlds' most beautiful regions. 60% unemployment and the mafia runs everything from gas stations to the local government. This is the paradise that 250,000 people died for?
Posted by: Rik Davies | Mar 5, 2007 10:04:11 AM
Michelle O. -
Get a clue, the people in Bosnia are all the same race, so how can you possibly claim Karadzic persecuted people because of race???
Posted by: F. Yanni | Mar 7, 2007 5:39:24 AM
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