Daniel McLaughlin
Relatives of Mr Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader who is on the run from war crimes charges, are being threatened with death unless they reveal his whereabouts, the fugitive's brother said yesterday.
Mr Luka Karadzic claims that unknown assailants - either freelance bounty hunters or government agents - are hounding family members in the hope of catching the scent of a man who for a decade has eluded trial at the UN tribunal in The Hague.
"My son answered the phone and was told that I'd be killed, or he would be, or that Radovan's son would be, unless Radovan surrenders," Mr Karadzic told Belgrade's Blic newspaper.
"These threats against me and my family are sheer banditry," he added. "No legitimate democratic state would stand for it."
Karadzic led Bosnia's Serbs during a 1992-95 war that killed more than 250,000 people, and he was later indicted for alleged atrocities, including genocide.
International forces in the Balkans have failed to find him, and he is believed to stay perpetually on the move with his bodyguards, finding refuge among Serbs in the rugged border zone of Bosnia and Montenegro, where he is widely regarded as a hero.
Washington has offered $5 million for information leading to his capture, a reward that may be encouraging people to threaten his family, Mr Karadzic said.
"I do not know whether the threats are coming from police officers or informal groups," he told the Montenegro daily Dan.
"They tell family members that they are friends who want to know how Radovan is doing and after that they start applying pressure. "
Mr Radovan Karadzic's relatives insist that he will never give himself up.