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Karadzic, family 'optimistic'
22/07/2008 17:38 - (SA)
Belgrade - Radovan Karadzic and his family are "optimistic" that he can beat the war crimes charges he faces before a UN court after his arrest in Serbia, his brother said in a report Tuesday.
"Thank God, my brother is alive and healthy. He has lost a lot of weight but he is normal and reasonable," Luka Karadzic was quoted as saying by news agency Beta.
"I can say that he is bursting with optimism. He knows whether or not he is guilty," the brother said after meeting the wartime Bosnian Serb leader in a Belgrade detention facility.
Karadzic, who had evaded capture for nearly 13 years, was arrested by Serbian security forces on Monday night.
Earlier, a lawyer acting for Karadzic said his client would challenge his transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) based in The Hague.
Karadzic "does not recognise the tribunal and does not trust in it, but what can we do" said Luka, who added he had not been in contact with his elder brother for a long time.
"He used another name, he was working with some people who did not know who he was ... He earned a living from that work," he added.
Serbian authorities had earlier shown a photo of Karadzic with hippy-like hair and a long white beard he sported while working in a health clinic and living in Belgrade.
Luka said that Karadzic's wife and daughter were "happy that he is alive".
His daughter "Sonja is full of optimism and she told me to kiss him and tell him to stay strong, that they are with him and will help with everything that is necessary".
His wife, Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic, who lives in Bosnia, has appealed several times for Karadzic to give himself up in order to ease the pressure on his family after a series of raids on their homes by foreign peacekeepers.
- AFP
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