BOSNIA / FILE: Posters in support of Radovan Karadzic appear in ethnically-cleansed Bosnian town of Visegrad

Record ID: 498036

  • Title: BOSNIA / FILE: Posters in support of Radovan Karadzic appear in ethnically-cleansed Bosnian town of Visegrad
  • Date: 25th July 2008
  • Summary: MUNICIPALITY BUILDING IN VISEGRAD FLAGS ON BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) REDZEP JELACIC, CHAIRMAN OF MUNICIPALITY PARLIAMENT OF VISEGRAD, SAYING: "Today's session has been cancelled after a request from SDS (Serbian Democratic Party) delegates, and the reason is that the OHR (Office of the High Representative) is keeping documents of Karadzic's family and preventing them
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2JLOU5R8HNWAJYMBJTJIY8PF7
  • Story Text: Posters declaring wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic a hero have begun appearing in the eastern town of Visegrad, where some thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed in the 1992-1995 war.
    The posters show pictures of Radovan Karadzic and Karadzic's wartime military commander, Ratko Mladic, with slogans naming them as 'Serbian Heroes'.
    Karadzic, wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, indicted twice for orchestrating genocide in the 1992-95 Bosnia war, was arrested in Serbia on Monday (July 21) after 11 years on the run.
    He is now in a Belgrade prison awaiting extradition, which is likely to happen early next week.
    Bosnian Serbs in Visegrad say they are shocked.
    One resident criticized pro-Western Serbian President Boris Tadic for the arrest of Karadzic, saying the current president "is a big evil for the Serbian nation."
    A session of the local municipality assembly has been called to a halt, at the request of members of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) -- the party Karadzic formed.
    The SDS members were protesting because the Office of the High Representative (OHR) -- the top international envoy in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak -- is allegedly withholding documents from Karadzic's family, preventing them from visiting him.

    "Today's session has been cancelled after a request from SDS (Serbian Democratic Party) delegates, and the reason is that the OHR (Office of the High Representative) is keeping documents of Karadzic's family and preventing them from seeing Karadzic in Belgrade," said Redzep Jelacic, chairman of Visegrad's municipal parliament.
    Karadzic's wife and children are banned from leaving Bosnia under measures meant to choke off Karadzic's support network. They are now waiting for permission to travel to Serbia.
    Miroslav Lajcak, the international peace overseer in Bosnia, said a decision had not been made yet. He said he would have to make consultations with "relevant international and local partners" before making a decision on the issue.
    Muslims made up two-thirds of Visegrad's 21,000 people before the war, but only a few hundred have returned to their homes in the poor, drab town, some 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Sarajevo and close to the border with Serbia.
    Some 3,000 were killed by Bosnian Serb and Serbian paramilitaries at the outbreak of Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
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