Karadzic family banned from EU

The wife and son of the world’s most wanted war crimes suspect were today banned from entering European Union countries.

The ban on former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic’s family and others, is part of international efforts to capture war crimes suspects still at large thanks to a network of supporters financing and otherwise helping them.

The blacklist, which contains 14 names, is meant to help the tribunal bring “to justice those indicted for war crimes in order to ensure that they face justice by targeting those who are helping or in any way assisting,” said Paddy Ashdown, Bosnia’s international administrator, who announced the names in Sarajevo.

“This is not a fixed list. This is a living list, a living document. It changes, it will grow over time,” Ashdown said.

“So the message is clear: If you are helping war criminals, life is about to get a whole lot tougher.”

Most of the suspects still at large are Bosnian Serbs.

They include Karadzic, the wartime leader of Bosnia’s Serbs, and his top general, Ratko Mladic.

Both were indicted in 1995 for alleged genocide and other suspected atrocities committed against the non-Serb population here.

Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war took 260,000 lives and left more than half of the population homeless. It was Europe’s worst bloodshed since the Second World War.

“The noose is closing on those who are on the run,” said Ashdown, adding he has a simple message to the fugitives: ”We and our partners in the region will continue to hunt you.”