200807261939 | Deadline for Karadzic's appeal

Deadline for Karadzic's appeal

Belgrade - Serb officials have received death threats for arresting war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, media reported on Friday, as a deadline for appealing his handover to a UN tribunal approached.

The threats prompted increased security for pro-European President Boris Tadic and special war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, who announced Karadzic's arrest on Monday, and two other officials, the Blic daily quoted security sources as saying.

Spokespersons for Tadic and Vukcevic declined comment.

In 2003, Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic, the leader of the Democratic Party now headed by Tadic, was assassinated after he turned over former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal in The Hague to face genocide and war crimes charges.

Karadzic's lawyer faced a Friday deadline for appealing a Belgrade judge's decision to extradite the former Bosnian Serb leader to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

War crimes suspects

Lawyer Svetozar Vujacic said he would file the appeal five minutes before the deadline in hopes of delaying the handover.

"I know it will be rejected in five seconds, but I want to mess up their concept. I'll appeal in the last minute because I want his family to come and see him," Vujacic told reporters.

The international administrator in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak, said he may consider returning travel documents to the Karadzic family once he is sure this would not contribute to the support network for war crimes suspects still at large.

Karadzic's wife and daughter have asked Lajcak's office to return their travel documents so they can visit Karadzic in Belgrade. They claim they cannot afford to travel to The Hague.

Vujacic has said Karadzic plans to defend himself in the tribunal, just like his mentor, the late Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, and the jailed leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj.

Seselj's party plans to organise a mass protest against the "Hague tyranny" in Belgrade on Tuesday.

Criminal complaint

Karadzic's lawyer, meanwhile, filed a criminal complaint alleging that unknown persons kidnapped Karadzic last Friday.

Vujacic claims Karadzic was kidnapped on Friday night from a public bus in Belgrade's suburbs and kept in a small room until Monday night when he was brought to the war crimes court in downtown Belgrade.

Serbian authorities insist that Karadzic was arrested on Monday evening, but the war crimes court investigative judge told Tanjug state agency that the court is investigating Vujacic's claim.

The Hague tribunal has indicated Karadzic on charges including genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1992-95 Bosnia war. His arrest after 12 years on the run ended a period that included an alias, a long white beard, a mistress and posing as an alternative medicine expert. - Sapa-dpa