 Karadzic's secret life on the run
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-25 07:31
A mistress, a bogus family he said he left in the US, and regular visits to a bar called "The Madhouse" where he sipped wine below a picture of himself in his heyday - these are among the details that have emerged about Radovan Karadzic's secret life. Since his arrest on Monday, Serbs have been enthralled by the former Bosnian Serb leader's transformation from a suit-and-tie politician into a long-haired health guru. Karadzic's metamorphosis was so complete that many of his neighbors say they are struggling to comprehend how the friendly man they knew as Dr Dragan David Dabic could have turned out to be Karadzic . "His new life was fascinating. He hid in the open," said criminologist Leposava Kron. Life as a doctor Karadzic, who had been on the run for nearly a decade, had a girlfriend he presented as an associate in the alternative medicine business he ran, said Zoran Pavlovic. Pavlovic, a software engineer, said Karadzic hired him in February to set up a website to advertise his expertise in "human quantum energy". Pavlovic said he visited Karadzic's apartment in a grim suburb of the capital called New Belgrade once or twice a month to discuss the project. On a table, he said, was a framed photograph of four boys - all dressed in yellow L.A. Lakers T-shirts - who Karadzic said were grandsons living in America. Karadzic claimed to have lived in New York City, and that he "got his diploma" in the US. "He told me he traveled often to America and I had no reason to disbelieve him," Pavlovic said. His rented two-room flat was a mess, with things strewn about. Karadzic was always dressed in black and often complained that money was hard to come by, Pavlovic said. "Frankly, he scared me a bit. I thought he belonged to some religious sect or something, with that beard and all, but I treated him as any other client," Pavlovic said. Pavlovic displayed gold- and silver-plated, bullet-shaped metal objects that Karadzic had given him and which he used in his healing practices to attract "cosmic energy". Karadzic introduced the girlfriend only by her first name, Mila - an attractive brunette in her early 40s - and Pavlovic said she sometimes offered her own suggestions for the website. Karadzic remained officially married to Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic, who lives in their family house in the former Serbian stronghold of Pale, just east of Sarajevo. Polite neighbor Karadzic's neighbors had only praise for him. "He was always polite, offering his services to help my husband, who had a stroke," said Milica Sener, a neighbor who lives one floor down. "But I declined. We don't believe in alternative medicine." Shopkeeper Gordana Blagojevic said Karadzic bought yogurt and whole-grain bread at her store every other day, sometimes with his girlfriend in tow. Pensioner Milica Bjelanovic said Karadzic moved to the neighborhood about a year and a half ago; she described him as a quiet man whose striking appearance - a kind of bushy beatnik Santa with long hair worn in a plaited top-knot - made him an oddity. Misko Kovijanic, who owns "The Madhouse" bar in Karadzic's neighborhood, said Karadzic was a regular who liked to sip red wine in the tavern decorated with a photo of himself and fellow war crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic. The photographs hang over bottles of Serbian slivovitz plum brandy lined up on the bar, showing Mladic in combat fatigues and Karadzic, with his familiar salt-and-pepper mane, sporting a stylish suit. "I'm very proud that he came to my pub, and I'm very sad that he was arrested," Kovijanic said, adding that Karadzic liked to listen to "gusle" - a one string instrument - that was played live in the pub. Under his Dabic alias, Karadzic had written articles for the Serbian alternative medicine magazine Healthy Life since last October. Its editor, Goran Kojic, who had said he was stunned when he realized the bizarre truth about Karadzic, said he became suspicious when his contributor couldn't present a diploma to back his claim of being a therapist. Karadzic's whereabouts had been a mystery since he went underground in 1998. His various hideouts reportedly included monasteries in native Montenegro and mountain caves in remote eastern Bosnia. Agencies (China Daily 07/25/2008 page11) |
