(BRUSSELS) - The European Union is set to lift its travel ban on the family of Bosnian Serb war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic who have had their passports returned as an interim "humanitarian" measure, an EU official said Thursday.

The process of officially lifting the European travel ban "has started, but it is not fully completed," the official told AFP.

"In the meantime, my understanding is that the relatives have been given their passports back on humanitarian grounds," he said, so that they can visit the Bosnian Serb wartime leader in his cell in The Hague.

The confiscated passports have been returned by the international community's high representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak, he added.

Lajcak had ordered their confiscation in January because of suspicions that the family -- wife Ljiljana and daughter Sonja, son Sasa and son-in-law Branislav Jovicevic -- had helped Karadzic avoid justice.

"He is no longer a fugitive so they are no longer involved," another European source said.

Karadzic, 63, was arrested in Belgrade last month on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against in connection with the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, including the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre.

His trial is not due to start for several months.

While the Karadzic family may have their passports back, they will still need to apply for visas for any EU member state they wish to enter, including the Netherlands.

They are nevertheless expected to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague -- where Karadzic is detained -- in early September, the official said.

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