THE infamous fugitive, long charged with war crimes, was not in a distant monastery or a dark cave when finally caught, but living in Serbia's capital. Nor was Radovan Karadzic lurking inconspicuously, but instead giving public lectures on alternative medicine and bioenergy healing techniques before audiences of hundreds.
He was hiding in plain sight, shielded by an enormous beard, with white pony-tailed hair topped by an odd black tuft, and a new life so at odds with his myth as to deflect suspicion. On a dreary, rainy afternoon in Belgrade, the day after Karadzic's
capture, foes and supporters alike were left to marvel at what appeared to be his complete metamorphosis.
As Serbs grappled with the repercussions of his arrest, and his place as a symbol of crimes carried out in their name, they were also left to sort out the two lives of a single man.
The fatigues-clad leader of the Bosnian Serbs was unrecognisable in a guise that was part guru and part Santa Claus. As Dragan Dabic, an identity stolen from a bemused and very much alive pensioner living in the north of the Serb Republic, the former psychiatrist worked for years in a clinic in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, practising alternative medicine taught to him by Mina Minic, a former Serb Army colonel, with whom 63-year-old Karadzic has co-authored a book on alternative therapy.
"He was a very disciplined student and had the highest power you could wish for," said 78-year-old Minic of Karadzic, who had told him he was a Croat from America. "He was the best and most talented pupil I had in 40 years."
Karadzic even lectured on videotape at local community centres, in an open and active life that would appear to be an extraordinary risk for one of the world's most wanted men.
"For an older person, he had very many interests," said Maja Djelic, 28, a Belgrade resident who, like Karadzic, wrote for the magazine Healthy Life. She said they also met for coffee and enjoyed conversations about acupuncture and the internet in a café called Biblioteka in downtown Belgrade. Karadzic, she recalled, was very interested in improving his website.
"He said, when being introduced, 'My name is Dr Dabic, but call me David'," she said, adding that the two met last November. "He was really friendly and really open and had a way of speaking with people."
She said that he did not speak with a Bosnian accent, and that he seemed like a valuable member of the small alternative-medicine community here, not someone who could have been the force behind the notorious Srebrenica massacre and the deadly siege of Sarajevo. "I still don't believe it's the same person," she said.
Despite what seemed to be the completeness of his disguise and his profound change in lifestyle – the 63-year-old refuses to eat prison meals, instead living off spring water, almonds, hazelnuts and raisins, a diet that he believes will allow him to live to 120 years of age – it is still unclear whether, as war crimes prosecutors have often alleged, the Serbian government had long been aware of Karadzic's location and was only waiting for a convenient moment to apprehend him.
The arrest, nearly 13 years to the day after his indictment in connection with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian men and boys at Srebrenica, seemed aimed at strengthening economically ailing Serbia's case for membership of the European Union.
With unemployment running at around 40%, the need for inclusion grows more pressing by the month, but a condition for membership remains the capture of Karadzic's wartime ally, General Ratko Mladic, who is also being sought for trial in The Hague on charges of genocide.
Some analysts saw the arrest of Karadzic on charges that include genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, wilful killings, persecutions, deportations and inhumane acts against Muslims and Croats as an indication that Mladic would soon be seized. Over the years, there were many reports that Mladic wandered around downtown Belgrade without hiding his identity.
As for Karadzic, Dejan Anastasijevic, a reporter who specialised in war crimes and followed his case closely for Vreme, a political weekly in Belgrade, said his disguise was so complete that he would not have recognised Karadzic even if he had walked right by him. "Maybe if I sat opposite at the table and spoke to him for a while," he said. "If I passed him on the street, I don't think I would have looked twice."
A wartime friend of Karadzic's who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid the attention of prosecutors, said the change in Karadzic was so complete, "you could only recognise him if you know him by the sound of his voice". Yet, in the end, it was not enough to keep Karadzic out of the authorities' grasp. The friend said he believed the arrest was the result of a tip-off, but also that recently Karadzic had "made a mistake in communication", though he declined to elaborate further.
A judge concluded on Tuesday that Karadzic should be transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. His lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, lodged an appeal at a remote rural post office five minutes before Friday's deadline but it is expected to be rejected and Karadzic could be transferred to The Hague as early as this week. Vujacic has indicated that, as with Slobodan Milosevic, who died in a cell in The Hague March 2006, Karadzic will defend himself.
To become a new person, officials said, he used false documents and false identities. Most recently he lived in New Belgrade, a working-class neighbourhood known as a stronghold of Serbia's far-right Radical Party. "How convincing his false identity was, we can tell you that he has been freely walking in the city," Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said. "Even the people he rented a flat from were unaware of who he was."
Last week, EU peacekeepers, with support of the local police, raided the Sarajevo apartment of Karadzic's wife Ljiljana, seizing documents and other materials. In recent weeks, homes of other known supporters of Karadzic were also searched.
Then on Monday, the Serbian secret police followed Karadzic for several hours until they swooped, apparently while he was on a bus.
Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb president during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, went into hiding a year or so after being indicted by an international war crimes tribunal in July 1995, days after the Srebrenica massacre.
In Sarajevo his arrest brought jubilant Bosnians onto the streets, where they celebrated, sung, danced and waved Bosnian flags. Yet many expressed scepticism. "We hope that he will get the most severe punishment and never come out of jail again," said Nura Begic, one of the survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, "but why didn't they arrest him in 1996 or 1997? He will die soon, just like some of the others who were extradited before him."
Belgrade remained largely peaceful after the arrest, but there were ominous reminders of the nationalist violence of the past. The police, many in full riot gear, clashed with more than 100 nationalists who were chanting Karadzic's name and throwing chairs from an outdoor café in Republic Square in the heart of the downtown district.
Though the police dispersed the group without too much difficulty, the action demonstrated the depth of feeling among many Serbs for Karadzic and their belief that he won't get a fair trial in The Hague. His reputation as a nationalist hero is very different from his image abroad.
"It was a war, so he just defended our people," said Ivan Sasic, 19, a leader of the Radical Party's youth council. Though he said he favoured peaceful demonstrations and did not take part in the melee, he also strongly opposed Karadzic's extradition. "We feel sad," Sasic said, "because we're giving away a man who was a hero for us."
Additional reporting by Nidzara Ahnetesevic and Merima Husejnovic in BelgradeThe full article contains 1345 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
