Radovan Karadžić

Radovan Karadžić
Радован Караџић
Portrait by Mikhail Evstafiev, 1994
1st President of Republika Srpska
In office
7 April 1992 – 19 July 1996
Vice President
  • Biljana Plavšić
  • Nikola Koljević
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byBiljana Plavšić
President of the Serb Democratic Party
In office
12 July 1990 – 19 July 1996
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byAleksa Buha
Personal details
Born (1945-06-19) 19 June 1945
Petnjica, Montenegro, Yugoslavia
CitizenshipBosnia and Herzegovina[1]
Political partySerb Democratic Party (1990–2001)
SpouseLjiljana Zelen Karadžić
Children2, including Sonja
Alma mater
  • University of Sarajevo
  • Columbia Medical School
ProfessionPsychiatrist
Signature
Convictionsgenocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment

Radovan Karadžić (Serbian Cyrillic: Радован Караџић, pronounced [râdoʋaːn kâradʒitɕ]; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb former politician who served as the president of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[2]

Trained as a psychiatrist, he co-founded the Serb Democratic Party in Bosnia and Herzegovina and served as the first president of Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996. He was a fugitive from 1996 until July 2008, after having been indicted for war crimes by the ICTY.[3] The indictment concluded there were reasonable grounds for believing he committed war crimes, including genocide against Bosniak and Croat civilians during the Bosnian War (1992–1995).[3] While a fugitive, he worked at a private clinic in Belgrade, specializing in alternative medicine and psychology, under an alias.[4]

He was arrested in Belgrade in 2008 and brought before Belgrade's War Crimes Court a few days later.[3] Extradited to the Netherlands, he was placed in the custody of the ICTY in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, where he was charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.[5][6] He is sometimes referred to by the Western media as the "Butcher of Bosnia",[7][8][9] a sobriquet also applied to former Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) General Ratko Mladić.[10][11][12] In 2016, he was found guilty of the genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, 10 of the 11 charges in total, and sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment.[13][14] In 2019, an appeal he had filed against his conviction was rejected, and the sentence was increased to life imprisonment.[15] He is serving his sentence in a British prison, HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

  1. ^ "Radovan Karadžić zatražio državljanstvo Srbije" (in Serbo-Croatian). N1. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  2. ^ Daily report: East Europe, Issues 191–210. Front Cover United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. p. 38.
  3. ^ a b c "Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic". BBC. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
  4. ^ "Karadzic lived as long-haired, New Age doctor". Reuters. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  5. ^ "The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia the Prosecutor of the Tribunal Against Radovan Karadzic Amended Indictment". UN. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  6. ^ "Case Information Sheet" (PDF). UN. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Yahoo". Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  8. ^ Kavran, Olga (23 July 2008). "Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic Arrested: What Lies Ahead". The Washington Post.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNN23Jul08 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Serbia Arrests 'Butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladic for Alleged War Crimes". Fox News. 26 May 2011.
  11. ^ "'Butcher of Bosnia' Arrested In Serbia". Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Career soldier Mladic became "butcher of Bosnia"". Reuters. 26 May 2011.
  13. ^ Simons, Marlise (24 March 2016). "Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian Serb, Gets 40 Years Over Genocide and War Crimes". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Karadzic sentenced to 40 years for genocide". CNN. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  15. ^ Borges, Julian (20 March 2019). "Radovan Karadžić war crimes sentence increased to life in prison". the Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2022.