The Rise and Fall of the 'Butcher of Bosnia'

On the run for 13 years, the former Bosnian Serb leader is finally behind bars. by Adam Eaglin 22 July 2008 19 June 1945: Radovan Karadzic is born in Savnik, Yugoslavia, now Montenegro. His father is a member of the Chetniks – an army of radical nationalist Serbs loyal to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia – and remains in jail for much of Karadzic’s childhood.

1960: Moves to Sarajevo, where he later meets his wife, Ljiljana. Karadzic pursues psychiatry at the Sarajevo University School of Medicine and works as a psychologist in a city hospital.

1968: After befriending Serb nationalist writer Dobrica Cosic, Karadzic publishes a book of poetry. Cosic encourages Karadzic to enter politics.

1971: Karadzic graduates in medicine.

1974: Spends one year furthering his education at Columbia University in New York, where he takes courses in psychiatry and poetry. Afterwards, he returns home to continue practicing medicine.

12 July 1990: After two decades of increasing involvement in politics, Karadzic co-founds the Serbian Democratic Party in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the goal of uniting Serbs within the country.

9 January 1992: The Serbian Assembly within the Bosnian government announces the establishment of a republic, later named Republika Srpska, and the following month, a constitution is adopted, declaring that the Serbian state is considered a part of Yugoslavia and includes Serb autonomous regions within Bosnia.

February-March 1992: A referendum is held regarding the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Yugoslavia. Many Serbs boycott the referendum, but 98 percent of voters choose independence. However, Bosnian law requires the consent of all three ethnic groups (Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats).

April 1992: The United Nations recognizes Bosnia as an independent state. Also that month, Karadzic helps to orchestrate the beginning of a 44-month siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, by Bosnian Serb forces. The devastating assault cripples the city and will result in the death of nearly 15,000 civilians.

12 May 1992: Karadzic is elected president of the Serb republic in Bosnia. As president, Karadzic oversees the Bosnian Serb army through its increasing series of attacks during the Bosnian conflict. Karadzic will officially remain in the position until July 1996.

1992–1995: During the three years of the Bosnian war – according to a later indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – Karadzic and Bosnian Serb forces use terror tactics and ethnic cleansing in order to gain control of the areas that were said to be a part of Republika Srpska. Violence and mass murder will slowly escalate until 1995, when the internationally-brokered Dayton peace accords bring the armed conflict to an end. Karadzic’s brutality during the conflict will earn him the title “the Butcher of Bosnia.”

25 May 1993: The United Nations Security Council passes an initiative to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague, in order to prosecute war crimes committed during the wars of the former Yugoslavia. Since its inception, the tribunal has indicted a total of 161 individuals and has completed proceedings for 100 of them.

July 1995: According to the UN, Bosnian Serb forces select and kill approximately 7,500 Muslim men and boys in the territory of Srebrenica, a UN safe area, as part of an ethnic cleansing initiative. The massacre is considered the worst in Europe since World War II.

Later that month, on 24 July, the UN tribunal files and confirms the first indictment against Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader, for alleged crimes they committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. The indictment charges Karadzic with multiple counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws of war.

1996: With NATO members, particularly the United States, threatening sanctions against Serbia, Karadzic steps down as Republika Srpska president and soon goes into hiding.

31 March 2001: Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is arrested by Yugoslav authorities on suspicion of corruption charges and abuse of power. When the investigation falters, they make the decision to extradite Milosevic to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes.

2002–2004: NATO restarts its efforts to apprehend Karadzic but at least three operations to track him down fail.

2003: Bosnia freezes the bank accounts and assets of Karadzic’s relatives, who are suspected of aiding him.

July 2005: Under pressure from the Serbian government, Karadzic's wife Ljiljana publicly appeals for him to surrender “for the sake of your family.” Also that year, Karadzic publishes a book of poetry in Serbia, titled Under the Left Breast of the Century. The Hague is outraged that Serbian officials allow the book to be released.

11 March 2006: Milosevic dies of heart failure while imprisoned at The Hague before the completion of his trial.

11 June 2008: With the arrest of former Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin, just three fugitives remain on the Hague tribunal’s wanted list: Karadzic, Mladic, and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

21 July 2008: Karadzic is arrested in Belgrade in a raid by Serbian security forces.