Just as Novak Djokovic showed off the best of Serbia with his Wimbledon win yesterday, so today the world saw the worst - war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic at The Hague.
Just as soon as Novak Djokovic showed the world the best Serbia has to offer, the engraving barely cold on his Wimbledon trophy, so the world witnessed the very worst: Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic back at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, defiant, unrepentant, disruptive, unapologetic.
Today Mladic was removed from his hearing after quarrelling with the judge, the court entering a plea of not guilty on his behalf. He faces a total of 11 counts of genocide of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Srebrenica; persecutions; extermination and murder; deportation and inhumane acts; terror and unlawful attacks; and the taking of UN hostages.
He is charged in connection with the Srebrenica massacre – Europe’s single worst atrocity since World War Two – in which 7,500 Muslims were massacred, and is also charged over the 44-month siege of Sarajevo from May 1992 – in which 10,000 people died.
So, how easy will it be for new Serbia to consign Mladic, Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic to the past? And what does the future hold for the Serbia of Djokovic and president Boris Tadic?
The arrest and prosecution of Mladic, and the determination of Tadic to face down the ultra-nationalists who protested his capture, will do much to accelerate Serbia’s rehabilitaion, removing one of the key barriers to accession to the European Union; Djokovic’s advance to the summit of the tennis world rankings, and his imperious dethroning of Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon the icing on the cake.
Certainly, the unreconstructed elements are still there, from the pro-Milosevic graffiti scrawled on walls in central Belgrade and the selling of Mladic t-shirts at Belgrade’s main train station, to the subtle distrust of foreigners – or at least those who obviously look like foreigners.
Yet in Tadic and Djokovic – the man every Serbian boy wants to be, and every Serbian girl wants to be with, whose visage adorns billboard after advert after magazine cover – the future is brighter for Serbia than perhaps it’s ever been, even more than after the fall of Milosevic a decade ago.
As Misha Glenny wrote in The Guardian recently:
“It was fitting that Serbia’s president, Boris Tadić, himself announced the arrest of Ratko Mladić in Belgrade. Nobody has put in a greater effort to run down the indicted war crimes suspect than Tadić… What Boris Tadić has done with Mladić is to take a huge step towards the moral rehabilitation of Serbs and Serbia whose reputation was so catastrophically compromised by the wars of the 1990s.
“He deserves our support and respect.”
Though one can never forget the horrors of Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic, nor should, Serbia now is a much changed place, its leaders looking outwards, to the future, to Europe, to the world, where its favoured son now sits atop.
60 Responses to “Two faces of Republika Srbija: the hopeful future, the shameful past”
Luke
Jesus Christ you guys need to get the facts straight. Serbia’s involvement in Bosnian war was about the same as the involvement of Russia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, UK, USA and Arab league ; They all helped out in the war, but helped different warring factions. Arabs, UK and USA helped the muslims. Croatia and Germany helped out Croats in Bosnia. Serbia and Russia sent volunteers and arms to Bosnian Serbs. Thats a freaking fact. The only war that Serbian army was involved in was in Kosovo. If Serbia risked sending it’s army to Bosnia, they would have been taken by NATO. Again, these convicted Serb leaders aren’t from Serbia, and they never even lived in Serbia, with the exception of the last few years. Djokovic is from Serbia, not Bosnia. Bosnia and Serbia are different countries in case you didn’t know.
Shamik Das
Popusismikurac, “anti-Serbian” propaganda? Utter rubbish. Nothing in the article is untrue. Is it cruel to report the fact that Mladic was in the Hague, and was the lead story on Monday morning? These are the facts. The story led the news outlets. This isn’t a conspiracy nor are we all propgandists. These are the facts. This is not spreading hatred – it is a reporting of the facts. The only hatred has been that directed at me by some of the commenters. “insensitive saddistic uninformed idiot” – wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. “undermining the peace efforts” – I don’t see how, unless you’re suggesting all reporting of Mladic (or even the trial itself) should be halted. This isn’t about taking sides – as I said, all the war criminals should be prosecuted.
Luke, and everyone, once again, Karadzic, and Mladic, wanted men both, were sheltered in Serbia, by Serbians, ordinary citizens, those in authority, many people must have known where they were yet refused to give them up. That is the truth, and the shame those who sheltered him must face. That is the point.
beebo
1. You say Mladic has been convicted already? found guilty? by whom? where? only serbs are “convicted” before the trial even begin apparently. This is why he will never have a fair trial. for those interested in what really happened in Srebrenica;
http://global-security-news.com/2011/05/27/ratko-mladic-what-really-happened-in-srebrenica/
2. Kosovo “liberated”? kosovo was is still part of Serbia for the vast majority of the world (which does not support an attempt to steal ones land). how is it that Kosovo in your eyes can be “liberated” while the Bosnian serbs can not “liberate” the serbian part of Bosnia? how? do you not see the double standard?
3. who said anything was untrue? everything i posted is also 100% true, the americans and brits did killed tens of millions in their conquest of the world and when you can not address this then the serbs her become “collectively insane” for you? haha you are out of your league debating us on this. go write a blog about american generals and baseball players!
4. again show us your proof of who was “sheltering” Karadzic? do you say this out of experience as Bin Laden lived amongst CIA compounds in Afghanistan? you are a joke.
Shamik Das
beebo, out of my league debating this stream of apologists? I don’t think so. And, once again, on Karadzic and Mladic, where were they found again? How did they manage to evade capture? And on Mladic, as is plain for all to see, he will have more of a trial than he ever granted the thousands he butchered. Defend him all you like; the facts speak for themselves.
Popusismikurac
Shamik, out of curiosity. How does one become a Serb hater. Were you born this way? Paid to be? Come to it from reading too much of the Guardian? Please tell me which of those apply to you or if it is a mix of them? Or maybe something I didn’t list.