SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC'S PROPERTY IN BOSNIA TO BE CONFISCATED

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 25,2008) — International officials in Bosnia say Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's property in Bosnia has to be confiscated and used to cover part of the $4.5 billion compensation a U.S. court ordered him to pay to the genocide survivors.

Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was one of the masterminds of the genocide against Bosnians,committed by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia

Through the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the genocide survivors who fled to the U.S. during the Bosnian 1992-95 war in which more than 100,000 people were killed, sought compensation from Karadzic. A jury decided on the sum of $4.5 billion in 2000.

The former leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia was a fugitive from justice for more than 12 years until his capture Monday.

Raffi Gregorian, deputy to Bosnia's international administrator Miroslav Lajcak, said today that options are being considered on how to confiscate Karadzic's property so a sum can be paid to the genocide survivors.

The International Community's Deputy High Representative in Bosnia Raffi Gregorian confirmed to Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz that “a few years ago, Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic lost a number of lawsuits before U.S. courts, where he was found guilty of creating concentration camps in which Bosnian women were systematically raped.“

“Karadzic owes the victims several billion dollars. That’s why all his assets and property are of such significance and interest to the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and EUFOR, which recently had his house in Pale valued. They are considering options as to how to confiscate all that property, and how the victims could be reimbursed partially, or at least, symbolically compensated,“ Gregorian explained.

According to the daily, assets belonging to Karadzic’s close relatives as well as to his support network could also probably “come under the court’s microscope“.

Gregorian said that the members of Karadzic’s family were “the heart of the network that helped and is helping hide Serbian war criminals.“

“That’s why they are on the U.S. and EU black list, and that situation won’t change until Karadžić ends up in The Hague,“ he added.

Gregorian said that Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s support network and those of the two remaining fugitives were intertwined, and that Karadžić’s family were still a part of it.

A group of ten genocide survivors in the U.S. sued Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic in 1993 via lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including a campaign of rape and other sexual violence as a form of torture against both Bosnian women and men used by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

According to the Bosnian daily, those cases expanded the use of the Alien Tort Statute of 1789, which allows foreigners to bring suits for breaches of human rights committed anywhere in the world before U.S. courts.

Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, who was represented by Ramsey Clark, participated in the case until 1997, but later stopped attending hearings. In September 2000, a jury found him guilty of the said crimes, and ordered him to pay compensation of USD 4.5 billion to the genocide survivors.

A further suit was brought against the former Bosnian Serb leader in 1994 by a second group of victims in a case dubbed “Kadić versus Karadžić“, writes the Bosnian daily.

The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Karadzic hid from justice for nearly 13 years before he was arrested. He had been living under a false identity and working in a private clinic in Belgrade as a doctor of alternative medicine.
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