Karadzic is still a hero for many as poll nears

Out of sight but never out of mind, Bosnia's most-wanted man, Radovan Karadzic, is still a hero for many Serbs, despite his double…

Out of sight but never out of mind, Bosnia's most-wanted man, Radovan Karadzic, is still a hero for many Serbs, despite his double indictment for war crimes. Sought for trial by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the 53-year-old wartime Serb leader is outlawed from taking part in this weekend's Bosnia-wide elections.

But in the ski resort of Pale outside Sarajevo that served as his stronghold throughout the 1992-95 war, as in many other parts of Bosnia's Serb entity of Republika Srpska, the name Karadzic still elicits respect.

"What I can say is, all the best to him," said Jelena (51), a teacher who - like others interviewed this week in Pale - declined to give her full name. "He was, and will always, be my president."

Young people voiced support to Karadzic as well. "I think he did a good job," said Slaja (16). "I think he's okay."

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In the eyes of ICTY prosecutors, the US-trained former psychiatrist of the Sarajevo football club - who later embraced "ethnic cleansing" as the way to "save Serbs" from a perceived Muslim onslaught - is anything but "okay".

Yet he is still at large, reportedly moving between safe houses in the rugged eastern half of Bosnia's Serb entity, Republika Srpska, which borders on Serbia.