Radovan Karadžić (born June 19, 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, poet, psychiatrist and alleged war criminal.

Karadžić was born in Petnjica near Savnik in Montenegro and moved to Sarajevo at an early age to pursue his studies in psychiatry and work in the Koševo Hospital.

In 1989 he co-founded the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) in Bosnia-Herzegovina which aimed at gathering the republic's Serb community and protecting its interests.

He led the Republika Srpska during the 1990s, after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. He is accused of having ordered the ethnic cleansing of Croats and Bosnian Muslims, resulting in numerous atrocities.

Since 1996, he has been a fugitive wanted for war crimes by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; Interpol warrant cites assault, crimes against humanity, crimes against life and health, genocide, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva conventions, murder, plunder , and violations of the laws or customs of war. In his defense, his supporters say that he is no more guilty than any other war-time political leader. His seeming ability to evade capture for over 8 years has made him a local hero among the Bosnian Serbs.

In November 2004, British defence officials conceded that military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Karadžić and other suspects to trial. Putting political pressure on Balkan governments would be more likely to succeed.

Quotes

• ..."the road to which you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina is the same highway of hell which Slovenia and Croatia took. Don't think you won't take Bosnia and Herzegovina to hell and the Muslims into annihilation... Muslims can't defend themselves if there is war here"... (Karadžić speaking at the Bosnian parliament, March 4, 1992)

See also

• Jovan Rašković

External link

• Interpol Warrant