Karadzic lived the good life with wine and song

By Ivana Sekularac

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Radovan Karadzic lived the good life while hiding from justice for 11 years: he watched his diet, fell in love and hung out in a small bar where hardliners gathered to sing about his wartime exploits.

His long grey hair and bushy beard hid the face famous for explaining "ethnic cleansing" during the Bosnia 1992-95 war.

The tailored suits he wore in his days as leader of the Bosnian Serbs were replaced by loose linen clothing.

"He always bought the best," said Misko Kovijanic, owner of a small grocery shop near the concrete Belgrade high-rise where Karadzic lived as his alter ego, Dr Dragan Dabic, a healer and practitioner of alternative medicine.

"He was always looking for the yoghurt with the lowest percentage of fat. He drank red wine, used to buy the local Medvedja Krv (Bear's Blood) brand," he said.

"Once he asked me where I was from and I said I was from near Radovan Karadzic's home village. Now that I think about it, I was explaining to Radovan Karadzic who Radovan Karadzic was."

Karadzic liked to go to the small bar next door, a hangout for nationalists who liked to play the gusle, a one-string fiddle typical to Montenegro, where Karadzic was born.

When they played, they sang songs about wars, heroes and killing the infidel enemies of Serbdom. Many of the songs are about Karadzic and his wartime commander Ratko Mladic, both indicted for genocide against Bosnian Muslims and Croats.