The Double Life of an Infamous Serbian Fugitive By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/nicholas_kulis h/index.html?inline=nyt-per> NICHOLAS KULISH and <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/graham_bowley/ index.html?inline=nyt-per> GRAHAM BOWLEY http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/world/europe/23karadzic.html?ref=world <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/world/europe/23karadzic.html?ref=world&pa gewanted=print> &pagewanted=print
BELGRADE, Serbia - The infamous fugitive, long charged with war crimes, was not in a distant monastery or a dark cave when caught at last, but living in Serbia's capital. Nor was <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/radovan_karadz ic/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Radovan Karadzic lurking inconspicuously, but instead giving public lectures on alternative medicine before audiences of hundreds. He was hiding behind an enormous beard, white ponytailed hair topped with an odd black tuft, and a new life so at odds with his myth as to deflect suspicion. On a dreary, rainy Tuesday in Belgrade, the day after Mr. 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-wearing leader of the Bosnian Serbs was unrecognizable in a guise that was part guru and part Santa Claus. As Dragan Dabic, the former psychiatrist worked for years in a clinic in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, practicing alternative medicine. He even lectured on videotape at local community centers, 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 Mr. Karadzic, wrote for the magazine Healthy Life. She said they also met for coffee and conversations, about acupuncture and the Internet, at a cafe called Biblioteka in downtown Belgrade. Mr. Karadzic, she recalled, was very interested in improving his Web site. "He said, when being introduced, 'My name is Dr. Dabic, but call me David,' " she said, adding that the two met last November. During an interview Tuesday, Ms. Djelic referred to him as Dr. David, not Karadzic. "He was really friendly and really open and had a way of speaking with people," Ms. Djelic said. 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, though the editor in chief of the magazine confirmed in interviews with numerous news outlets that Mr. Karadzic, under his assumed identity, had written for Healthy Life. Despite what seemed to be the completeness of his disguise, it was not publicly known whether, as war crimes prosecutors have often alleged, the Serbian government had long been aware of Mr. 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 Serbia's ties to the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/europea n_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org> European Union. A condition for membership remains the capture of Mr. Karadzic's wartime ally, Gen. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/ratko_mladic/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> Ratko Mladic, who is also being sought for trial in The Hague on genocide charges. Some analysts saw the arrest of Mr. Karadzic as an indication that General Mladic would soon be seized. Over the years, there were many reports that Mr. Mladic wandered around downtown Belgrade without hiding his identity. As for Mr. Karadzic, Dejan Anastasijevic, a reporter who specialized in war crimes and followed his case closely for Vreme, a political weekly in Belgrade, said that based on the photograph at the press conference on Monday he would not have recognized Mr. 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 Mr. Karadzic's who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid the attention of prosecutors, said the change in Mr. Karadzic was so complete, "you could only recognize him if you know him by the sound of his voice." Yet, in the end, it was not enough to keep Mr. Karadzic out of the authorities' grasp. The friend said that he believed the arrest was the result of a tip-off, but also that recently Mr. Karadzic had "made a mistake in communication," though he declined to elaborate further. A judge concluded on Tuesday that Mr. Karadzic should be transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, although he has three days to appeal the decision. Mr. Karadzic was questioned, but ministers said he had remained silent. To become a new person, officials said, he used false documents and false identities. Most recently he lived in New Belgrade, a working-class neighborhood 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 Tuesday. "Even the people he rented a flat from were unaware of who he was." Last week, European Union peacekeepers, with support of the local police, raided the Sarajevo apartment of Ljiljana Karadzic, Mr. Karadzic's wife, seizing documents and other materials. In recent weeks, homes of other known supporters of Mr. Karadzic were also searched. Then on Monday, police officers followed Mr. Karadzic for several hours, from midafternoon until the evening, before they swooped. Rumors of the involvement of a foreign secret service were vehemently denied by the Serbian government. The exact location of Mr. Karadzic's arrest was not disclosed, but government officials said he was apprehended by the Serbian secret police "as he traveled from one location to the other" not far from Belgrade. Some media reports said he was riding a bus when he was arrested. Mr. 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. He was charged with genocide, persecutions and other crimes in connection with the killings of non-Serbs by forces under his command during and after attacks on towns throughout <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/bo sniaandherzegovina/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Bosnia and Herzegovina. The indictment states that his forces killed, tortured and raped some of the thousands of non-Serbs they funneled into camps set up by the Bosnian Serb authorities. In addition, he was charged with responsibility for the shelling and sniper shootings of civilians in Sarajevo during the 43-month siege of the city in which thousands were killed or wounded, including many women and children. Belgrade remained largely peaceful on Tuesday, 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 Mr. Karadzic's name and throwing chairs from an outdoor cafe at Republic Square in the heart of downtown. Though the police dispersed the group without too much difficulty, the action demonstrated the depth of feeling among many Serbs for Mr. Karadzic. His reputation at home, 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 member of the Radical Party and one of the leaders of its youth council. Though he said he favored peaceful demonstrations and did not take part in the melee on Tuesday, he also strongly opposed Mr. Karadzic's extradition. "We feel sad," Mr. Sasic said, "because we're giving away a hero, a man who was a hero for us." Nicholas Kulish reported from Belgrade, and Graham Bowley from New York. Marlise Simons contributed reporting from The Hague, and Dan Bilefsky from Belgrade. 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