Karadzic extradition deadline looms

BELGRADE, Serbia (CNN) -- The lawyer of former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic was expected to launch an appeal Friday to block his client's extradition to The Hague to face an international war crimes tribunal.

A three-day deadline for the appeal to be filed was due to expire later Friday, a court spokesman in Belgrade told The Associated Press.

Karadzic's lawyer, Sveta Vujacic, told CNN earlier this week that an appeal was planned. She also said that Karadzic, whose arrest was announced earlier this week, planned to defend himself if extradited to The Hague.

Karadzic, a fugitive since 1996, faces charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia. Watch what's next for Karadzic »

Meanwhile, further details emerged Friday of Karadzic's bizarre life in hiding following revelations that he had been living in Belgrade and working as an alternative medicine therapist, disguised by a heavy beard and using a false identity.

Austrian newspaper The Kurier said Karadzic had worked in Vienna as a "miracle healer," and stayed with Serbian families in the city, AP reported. One couple said they had hired Karadzic, who called himself "Pera," after trying unsuccessfully to conceive children.

Living in Belgrade under the name Dragan Dabic and disguised by a heavy white beard and thick glasses, Karadzic was unrecognizable in photos from the clean-shaven figure last seen in public in 1995.

He lived in an apartment in the densely populated area of the capital known as New Belgrade. Neighbors noticed him due to his strange appearance but had no reason to suspect his real identity, they said. Watch Karadzic's neigbors describe the man they knew as Dabic »

"I remember we were sitting there and wondering and talking about his appearance," said Rusica, a neighbor. "He was strange because of his white beard and long hair."

Not even his landlords knew who Karadzic was, Serb officials said.

Karadzic liked to frequent a cafe down the street from his apartment called the Crazy House, where the owner said Karadzic often drank his favorite red wine and listened to Serb national songs. Pictures of Karadzic as he used to look -- clean-shaven, with thick salt-and-pepper hair -- and his wartime commander, Ratko Mladic, are on prominent display at the cafe. Follow a timeline on Karadzic »

Owner Tomas Kovijanic admits not knowing the actual Karadzic was sitting in the same cafe -- but he says he would have protected the former Bosnian Serb leader had he known.

"I would have protected him by all means," Kovijanic said. "He was a hero who protected Serbs""

The editor of a health magazine who organized the forums that Karadzic attended said he met him last October. He said he thought the fugitive's medical credentials were strange, showing that he was educated in Russia with brief travels to Asia, but he found Karadzic convincing.

"His body language was calm," said Goran Kojic, editor of Healthy Living magazine. "Then he would get theatrical and moved his hands a lot. He was very good with the crowds. He knew how to engage people, how to keep their attention.

"I can say without any doubt he was one the best speakers I ever hired for our lectures," Kojic said.

Karadzic, a one-time psychiatrist and self-styled poet, declared himself president of a Bosnian Serb republic when Bosnia-Herzegovina seceded from Yugoslavia in 1992. Watch an author discuss Bosnia's painful past »

The Bosnian Serbs, backed by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav military and paramilitary forces, quickly seized control of most of the country and laid siege to Sarajevo, the capital. See a map of the Balkans today »

During the conflict that followed, the Serb forces launched what they called the "ethnic cleansing" of the territories under their control -- the forced displacement and killings of Muslims and Croats.

He was removed from power in 1995, when the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian war barred anyone accused of war crimes from holding office.

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