Serbia's Best-Selling Authors: Accused War Criminals

by Vesna Peric Zimonjic

(IPS) BELGRADE -- Several Serbs labeled war criminals have produced bestsellers in the last few months.

The authors of three of the most popular books in this 'prison literature' as it has come to be called are either serving prison sentences, in hiding, or standing trial.

Each author participated directly in the wars of the 1990s that tore former Yugoslavia apart at a cost of 250,000 lives, mostly non-Serbs.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic describes her version of events that led to the 1992-95 war in Bosnia in her book 'I Testify.' She is serving an 11-year prison sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Plavsic wrote her book in a Swedish prison.

"The purpose of this book is to present facts which can't be disputed," publisher Rajko Vasic told IPS. "It is neither her defense nor polemics."

Plavsic was sentenced last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) set up by the United Nations and financed by the United States and U.S. corporations. She admitted participating in criminal actions against Bosnian Muslims. She offered an apology to the families of victims, a rare Bosnian Serb official to do so.

Bosnian Serbs carved out their own state in Bosnia during the war, evicted hundreds of thousands of Muslims, and are held responsible for the deaths of more thousands.

A second book has been written by Radovan Karadzic, the war crimes suspect most wanted by the ICTY. This is a novel titled 'The Miraculous Chronicle of the Night.' It is the story of a Sarajevo psychiatrist who goes to jail because of his anti-communist stand in the 1980s.

It is at least partly an autobiographical novel. Karadzic's pre-war life was much the same as the life of his main character.

Karadzic disappeared in 1996 and is believed to be hiding in the mountainous areas between eastern Bosnia and northern Montenegro.

The arrest and extradition of Karadzic to the ICTY has become one of the preconditions for Serbia to start the European Union (EU) assessment process. But Karadzic is seen as a hero by many Serbs both in Bosnia and in Serbia.

His publisher Miroslav Toholj will not reveal how he obtained the manuscript of the novel. "It was in the form of two CDs," Toholj told IPS. "Publishing of this book aimed to portray how good a writer Mr Karadzic is," he added.

The wartime Bosnian Serb leader is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Among other crimes, his troops are said to have massacred more than 7,000 Muslim boys and men after overrunning the UN protected zone of Srebrenica in 1995. His artillery shelled Bosnian capital Sarajevo for three-and-a-half years, killing an estimated 10,000 people. That exceeds the number of Sarajevans killed in four years of German occupation in World War II.

Karadzic has published several books since 1996. A play based on one of these books is due to open in a Belgrade theatre next month.

The third book doing the rounds is a short novel 'The Iron Trench,' a story of the Bosnian war as seen from the Bosnian Serbs' side. Author Milorad Ulemek portrays Serbs as victims of Muslims, and writes of a world conspiracy led by the U.S. against "the noble Serb nation."

Ulemek was the leader of Serbian secret police units in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. He is currently on trial for the 2003 assassination of Serbian reform-oriented prime minister Zoran Djindjic and for two assassination attempts against present foreign minister Vuk Draskovic in 1999. Draskovic was then an opposition leader.

"All 70,000 copies of the novel have already been sold," publisher Mihailo Vojinovic told IPS. This in a nation where the print order for the most popular domestic and foreign authors is usually around 3,000.

Vojinovic defended the decision to publish the book that has caused outrage among the liberal sections of the Serbian public.

"M Books (Vojinovic's publishing house) prints what is interesting," he told IPS. "People are interested in such books and that is what we give."

Analysts say the appearance of this 'prison literature' is an effort to counter changes introduced by the new regime after Serbian wartime leader Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000.

Serbia was and remains deeply divided over the wars. Many Serbs believe in a world conspiracy theory, but many do not.

"This is an effort to revive the myth of war years," psychology professor Zarko Trebjesanin told IPS. "The myth of Serb heroism in those wars began to fade with democratic changes since 2000. The longer Ulemek stays out of public, the paler the myth becomes."

Draskovic said at a press conference last week that "the book by Ulemek and the media coverage it gets amounts to another killing of victims and another shot into the hearts of their families."

The popularity of Ulemek's book is consistent with ignorance about wars in Croatia and Bosnia, Natasa Kandic, head of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) told IPS. "They'd rather see them (Serbs) as victims, which is easier than facing the truth, saying you're sorry, or sending the war crimes suspects to the ICTY."