Wife begs fugitive to give up

2005-07-29 13:00

Pale - The wife of fugitive Radovan Karadzic appealed to her husband to surrender to the United Nations war crimes tribunal "for the sake of the family."

Ljiljana Karadzic, who has always backed her husband during his flight from justice over the last 10 years, was speaking at her home on Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

"Our family is under constant pressure from all over. Our life and our existence is jeopardised," she said in apparent reference to raids by Nato troops on her home and those of her son and daughter in recent months.

In early July, troops detained the couple's son, Aleksandar, and questioned him for 10 days before releasing him. The family has always claimed it has had no contact with Karadzic and should be left alone.

A UN war crimes tribunal in 1995 indicted the wartime Bosnian Serb leader for genocide and other war crimes during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including the 1995 massacre of as many as 8 000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

He remains one of the tribunal's most wanted fugitives, sought by Nato and EU peacekeepers. It is believed that his Bosnian Serb supporters have helped him elude capture despite a United States-sponsored $5m reward for information leading to his arrest.

His wife struggled to hold back tears during the interview and said her decision had not been an easy one.

"In hope that you are alive and that you can make decisions by yourself, I'm begging you to make this decision," she said. "I'm now doing the only thing I can - I'm begging you," she said.

"Between loyalty to you and to the children and grandchildren, I had to choose and I have chosen. ... It will be your sacrifice for us, for the sake of your family," she said.

She told The Associated Press she was hoping the message will reach him wherever he is.

In Serbia, Karadzic's brother and longtime supporter, Luka Karadzic, said his sister-in-law's appeal was the "result of tremendous pressure" on the family and that he personally "disagrees" with it.

"She loves Radovan more than God himself and yet has called on him to surrender," Luka Karadzic told the Beta news agency in Belgrade. "But what if Radovan cannot hear her appeal, or is not in a position to make a decision on his own?"

UN war crimes prosecutors believe Karadzic is hiding in the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia and that he often crosses over to neighbouring Serbia, using the mountainous border area - and the popularity he still enjoys among Serb nationalists.

Former US envoy Richard Holbrooke, the architect of the 1995 Bosnian peace agreement, told recently that Karadzic is being sheltered by the ruling Serb Democratic Party, SDS, which he once established as well as by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Holbrooke said, "I'd guess he is in a monastery, having shaved his hair and having his beard grow."

- AP