Karadzic 'in good spirits'

Europe’s most wanted accused war criminal, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, is healthy and in good spirits, an associate said today.

The man who gained notoriety during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war and has since dodged international efforts to arrest him, Karadzic is busy writing books at an undisclosed location, according to friends and supporters who call themselves The Board for Truth About Radovan Karadzic.

They made the revelation at at the launch of one of his books in Belgrade.

The organisation’s secretary and former information minister in the Bosnian Serb wartime government, Miroslav Toholj, presented the book of a play, The Situation.

He described it as a ‘‘light, amusing stage play’’ which ‘‘gives a picture of the highly politicised time we live in ... and ridicules global manipulators.’’

’’This book is the first among seven to eight written by Karadzic and which the board is going to publish,’’ including a book of poetry for children and his entire wartime correspondence with unnamed local and international officials, Toholj said.

Karadzic has been indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Kosta Cavoski, a nationalist legal expert who heads the board, said that Karadzic is ‘‘in good health and in good spirits.’’

He refused to reveal Karadzic’s whereabouts and condemned ‘‘all threats and pressure against family and friends of Radovan Karadzic.’’

Nato led peacekeepers, deployed in Bosnia since the war’s end, have launched several futile operations to arrest Karadzic.

The prewar psychiatrist and self-styled poet, who in 1992 began leading the Serb uprising against Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats, remains at large and is believed hiding in eastern Bosnia, in the Serb-run half of the country.