Radovan Karadzic was to appeal his transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal on Friday, as more details emerged about his life on the run and signs that the authorities plan to confiscate his assets.

Karadzic (63) the war-time Bosnian Serb leader indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, was arrested in Belgrade on Monday — having evaded capture for more than a decade.

His lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic, said he would lodge the appeal against Karadzic's transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from a remote post office at the last minute.

"They will not be able to make a decision before Monday because I will send the appeal on Friday," Vujacic told AFP, confirming he intends to delay the transfer for as long as possible.

Legally, the appeal can be sent through regular mail five minutes before post offices close at 8pm (1800 GMT). A three-judge panel of Serbia's special war crimes court then has three days to decide on its merits.

As the deadline loomed, reports emerged that Karadzic had travelled as far as Austria and Italy under his new identity as Doctor Dragan Dabic to treat patients using methods including "quantum medicine" and "bioenergy".

An Austrian-Serb couple said in the Vienna newspaper, Kurier, that they had recognised pictures of the captured Karadzic as the healer who until just over a year ago had treated the wife to help her fall pregnant.

Another Vienna daily, Oesterreich, said he treated patients for erectile dysfunction, rheumatism and headaches, with alternative treatments such as the laying on of hands or by selling potions to his patients.

Separately, an alternative health colleague told an Italian newspaper that Karadzic was "a saint" who only ever performed good deeds and showed great knowledge in his acquired field.

"We met about seven or eight months ago during an alternative medicine seminar in Belgrade. Dabic was very competent in his field, which fascinated me," Mila Damianov told La Repubblica.

"When I heard the news, I thought it must have been a mistake," she said, adding: "I never doubted his identity. I saw him like a saint, an apostle for those who are suffering."

Asked about reports that Karadzic could be transferred to The Hague at the weekend, a Serbian court official told AFP that the panel of judges was unable to meet on Saturdays and Sundays.

The delaying tactic could give his Bosnia-based family — including wife Ljiljana and daughter Sonja — enough time to get back confiscated travel papers and see him before his transfer.

Vujacic has said Karadzic intends to defend himself before the UN tribunal, mirroring the tactics of his Serbian ally Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his cell at The Hague before a verdict could be delivered.

Karadzic is wanted for orchestrating two of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, the 44-month siege of Sarajevo which killed more than 10 000 people and Srebrenica massacre of some 8000 Muslim males.

He went into hiding the year after the ICTY indicted him in 1995.

He faces 11 counts including of genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, willful killing, persecutions, deportation and inhumane acts against Muslims, Croats and other non-Serb civilians.

In addition, Karadzic faces the confiscation of property including a family house in his wartime stronghold of Pale, near Sarajevo, to pay compensation worth billions of euros (dollars) which US courts awarded to his victims.

The powerful international envoy to Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak, was "considering options for how to confiscate the property in order to pay partial or at least symbolic compensation", said Lajcak's deputy, Raffi Gregorian.

Karadzic's capture has raised tensions in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where around 1000 ultra-nationalists have gathered for three consecutive days of protests in which journalists have been attacked.

In addition, high-ranking officials linked to the arrest of Karadzic, including President Boris Tadic, have been placed under the tightest level of security having received death threats, the Blic newspaper reported Friday.

AFP