Karadzic had mistress and bogus family in US

BELGRADE - Radovan Karadzic's secret life included a mistress, a bogus family he claimed he left behind in the United States, and frequent visits to a Belgrade pub called The Madhouse, acquaintances said yesterday.

A lawyer for the former Bosnian Serb leader - who sported a bushy white beard and long gray hair when he was captured Monday - said he had a shave and a haircut at his request.

"He looks like new, exactly the same, only 14 years older," said the lawyer, Sveta Vujacic.

Karadzic - arrested on UN genocide charges after nearly a decade on the run - had a girlfriend he presented as an associate at the alternative medicine clinic he owned, said Zoran Pavlovic, hired by Karadzic to set up a website.

Pavlovic also said he visited Karadzic's apartment in New Belgrade and saw a framed photograph of four boys - all dressed in yellow L.A. Lakers T-shirts - who Karadzic said were grandsons living in America. But that was a lie.

Karadzic will be handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal sometime in the next week, officials said.

Bruno Vekaric, spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, said Karadzic's extradition "could be Monday or Tuesday - but it could be earlier, too."

"We cannot say precisely when Karadzic will be sent to The Hague tribunal," he said yesterday.

Vujacic said Karadzic will resist extradition. He also said Karadzic intends to defend himself during his upcoming trial before the UN tribunal, with the help of a team of legal advisers, just like former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic did.

Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial in The Hague.

"He can't wait to appear before the court," Vujacic told reporters.