Radovan Karadzic

Who is he?:

Former Bosnian Serb leader who declared himself president after the creation of the independent Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was one of the leaders in a bloody campaign against Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia. He was indicted for war crimes in 1995 and later went into hiding; he was captured in 2008.

Birthdate:

June 19, 1945, in a stable in Savnik, Montenegro. His father, Vuk Karadzic, was a Serbian nationalist guerrilla in the army of the Yugoslav royal family in exile, and was imprisoned for lengthy periods by the post-WWII communist government.

Personal life:

Married to Ljiljana; daughter Sonja and son Sasa. All live in the resort town of Pale, with their assets frozen and passports having been seized for fear that they'd assist the fugitive. "As the phone rang, I knew something was wrong," his wife said after Karadzic's arrest. "I’m shocked. Confused. At least now, we know he is alive."

Political affiliation:

The right-wing Serbian Democratic Party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is currently under sanctions by the United States.

Career:

A psychiatrist by trade, Karadzic also dabbled in poetry early in his career, through which he was introduced to nationalist Serbian writer Dobrica Ćosić and decided to enter politics. Karadzic first went with the Green Party before helping form the Serbian Democratic Party in 1990. After the 1992 creation of the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (later Republika Srpska) he became president and commander of the Bosnian Serb forces. His bloody campaign against Bosniaks and Croats -- including the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995 -- earned him an indictment on genocide charges.

Future:

Karadzic faces genocide charges at The Hague in the 43-week siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre, where at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, some Serbs have rallied to the defense of Karadzic, maintaining that the war crimes tribunal is anti-Serb and that the longtime fugitive won't get a fair trial.

Quote:

"If The Hague was a real juridical body I would be ready to go there to testify or do so on television, but it is a political body that has been created to blame the Serbs" -- in an interview with The Times of London, February 1996