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Searching for Radovan Karadzic

Broadcast Date: Nov. 26, 1998

In the hills of Serbia and Montenegro, Radovan Karadzic is both a hero and a legend. But the international community has another term for him: war criminal. Karadzic is the nationalist Bosnian Serb leader who is accused of ordering crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. But in 1998 he is still outrunning justice from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In this CBC-TV documentary, reporter Carol Off travels to Karadzic's homeland to understand why the Serbian people keep protecting the fugitive in their midst. Note: this clip has been altered for copyright reasons.

Searching for Radovan Karadzic

• After 13 years on the run, Radovan Karadzic was arrested in July 2008. Disguised by a bushy white beard, a long ponytail and thick glasses, he had been hiding in plain sight under the assumed name Dragan Dabic. He was practising alternative medicine in Belgrade, Serbia, giving public lectures to hundreds of people and publishing articles in a health magazine.

• According to the New York Times, Karadzic's arrest showed that Serbia was ready to turn its back on ultra-nationalism and be welcomed into the European Union. "Serbs are not desperate, and they have not sold out, but they have seen that the nationalist rhetoric and slogans are empty and don't work," Serbian newspaper editor Ljiljana Smajlovic told the Times. "They see their manifest destiny in Europe."

• Upon news of Karadzic's capture, reporter Carol Off reflected on the making of this 1998 documentary in a column for CBCNews.ca. Read her memories of Searching for Dr. Karadzic.

Searching for Radovan Karadzic

Medium: Television

Program: The National Magazine

Broadcast Date: Nov. 26, 1998

Guest(s): Sonja Bizerko, Kosta Chavoshky, Vladimir Karadzic, Jovanka Karadzic, James Rubin, Milada Skoric, Milorad Skoric, Katarina Subasic

Host: Brian Stewart
Reporter: Carol Off

Duration: 21:46

This clip has been altered for copyright reasons.

Photo:

(Sava Radovanovic/Associated Press)
(Srdjan Ilic/Associated Press)
(Associated Press)

Last updated:
Nov. 13, 2009