Bosnian Serb Wartime President Boycotts Own Genocide Trial

Karadzic played a crucial role in the planning of the war that erupted over the Bosnia region's secession from Yugoslavia.

The United Nations war crimes tribunal has accused Karadzic of ordering troops to "cleanse" Serbia of Muslims and create a "mono-ethnic state out of a multi-ethnic country."

Trial continues without defendant

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Despite Karadzic's claims that he needs more time to prepare his defense, the judge allowed the prosecution to begin opening statements without him present.

"The chamber is of the view that this hearing can proceed in his absence," said O-Gon Kwon, presiding judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands.

Karadzic had chosen not to exercise his right to be present and "must therefore accept the consequences."

The prosecution revealed recorded phone calls from 1991 in which Karadzic considered the fate of Sarajevo, the multi-ethnic capital that Serb forces besieged for 44 months.

The phone taps record Karadzic allegedly saying: "They have to know that there are 20,000 armed Serbs around Sarajevo.... it will be a black cauldron where 300,000 Muslims will die. They will disappear. That people will disappear from the face of the earth," according to the Times of London newspaper.

Who is Karadzic?

	Karadzic is still a popular figure among some Serbs, seen here at a pro-Karadzic rally in Belgrade, Serbia, after his arrest.

Karadzic was born in 1945, at the end of World War II. His father was a member of the Chetniks -- Serb nationalist guerrillas who fought against both Nazi occupiers and Communist forces -- and he was in jail for much of his son's childhood.

Karadzic became a psychiatrist, began writing poetry and befriended Serb nationalist writer Dobrica Cosic, who encouraged him to go into politics, according to the BBC.

In 1990, he helped set up the Serbian Democratic Party in response to the rise of Bosnian Muslims and Croat Catholics who wanted to split from Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia had been under Serb control, but in the newly formed nation, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbs were only a one-third minority.

Karadzic and his followers did not want to become a minority, and declared the creation of the independent Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A vicious war ensued. In 1995, Serbian forces attacked Muslim refugees who had fled from Srebrenica to a U.N. camp protected by Dutch troops, extracted the men and boys from their families, and killed thousands of them.

Troops from the United States and NATO allies intervened to end the war and the 1995 Dayton peace treaty divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb republic, with a three-member presidency consisting of a Muslim, a Croat and a Serb.

In hiding for more than 10 years

	Karadzic worked as a new-age doctor under a fake name and grew a large beard to hide his identity.

Karadzic went underground in 1997, often donning elaborate disguises to elude authorities. He reportedly hid in monasteries and refurbished mountain caves.

The U.S. and Europe long suspected that the Serbian government wasn't treating the search for Karadzic as a priority. At the same time, many Serbs saw the U.N. war crimes tribunal as biased and prone to laying all the blame on Serbia.

However, the new government, which is eager to join the European Union, signaled it wanted to comply with international demands and intensified the hunt.

According to government officials, Karadzic grew a long white beard and moved freely in the city of Belgrade practicing alternative medicine under the false name, Dragan Dabic. He was regarded as an expert in meditation, calmness and silence, and wrote for Healthy Life magazine.

Trial seen as a way to heal

	Another Serbian wartime leader, Slobodan Milosevic, died before he could be tried for war crimes.

When news of his arrest in July 2008 spread, many people in Sarajevo poured onto the streets to celebrate.

Munira Subasic, head of a Srebrenica widow's association said the arrest "is confirmation that every criminal will eventually face justice."

"I hope that people who had to keep quiet because of Karadzic will start revealing the locations of mass graves and let us find the truth about our loved ones," she said.

Victims of the war and United Nations officials are eager to proceed with the trial to avoid a replay of Slobodan Milosevic's case. Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, played delay games with the war crimes court for four years, only to die of a heart attack before a formal verdict was rendered.

Even though the war ended 14 years ago, several other high-profile suspects who are wanted on war crimes charges, such as former general Ratko Mladic, remain free.