Hailing War Criminals, Serbs Shun Reflection

BELGRADE, Serbia — When a general convicted of war crimes gave a lecture last month to cadets at the military academy in Serbia’s capital, he received a warm welcome from the defense minister. The nation should feel “proud” of veterans like the general, “the bravest of the brave,” the minister said. So it was no surprise that after another general, Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander, was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes this week, President Aleksandar Vucic called the verdict “unjustified.”

Continue reading “Hailing War Criminals, Serbs Shun Reflection” →

Nationalism Fading From Serbia’s Political Stage

By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

BELGRADE — In a country that nurtures a grudge about an event that occurred more than 600 years ago, once-fiery Serbian nationalism now seems strangely muted.

With the 68-year-old General Ratko Mladic settling into his prison cell in The Hague, the relative silence with which Serbs greeted his arrest and extradition speaks volumes about the turnaround taken by the country’s leadership and the fading of nationalism as an issue from the political stage.

A Belgrade street protest on May 29 against the arrest of Mr. Mladic drew an estimated 10,000 people, smaller than the crowds that typically gather after important soccer matches. The major political parties accepted the extradition, after 15 years of mounting international pressure, as the price of getting closer to Europe. Continue reading “Nationalism Fading From Serbia’s Political Stage” →

A Fugitive in Their Midst? ‘Ridiculous,’ Villagers Say

By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

LAZAREVO, Serbia — This village near the Romanian border is Everytown, an indistinguishable collection of tidy lawns and trimmed trees, where the local people have been rocked by the news that Ratko Mladic, one of the world’s most wanted war crimes suspects, had been found hiding out among them.

They say it couldn’t be true.

“There is no chance that he was living here,” said the village mayor, Radmilo Stanisic, reflecting the general sentiment in this tightknit community. “Everyone knows everyone here. We’re like a big family.” Continue reading “A Fugitive in Their Midst? ‘Ridiculous,’ Villagers Say” →

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