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I don't know what to make or think of this, I've never heard of a novelist wanted for genocide. - Perdita
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Radovan Karadzic was once a minor celebrity in the literary world of the Balkans. That was in the 1980s before he was catapulted to notoriety over his role as president of the Bosnian Serbs as the Yugoslav Federation fell apart. These days he is on the run from Nato peacekeepers somewhere in the remote mountains of eastern Bosnia or his native Montenegro, which is why he was unable to be present at the launch of his new novel in Belgrade on Monday. The manuscript was delivered by an intermediary, not in person over a long lunch. Whether Mr Karazdic is a contender for the Serb equivalent of the Booker Prize is not the issue: his previous works, including several volumes of sentimental nationalist poetry, were not best-sellers, though there have been expressions of interest in his latest book from publishers in Greece and Russia, where the Bosnian Serb cause is still in vogue.
What matters is that he is facing two counts of genocide at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Together with Ratko Mladic, the military leader of the Republika Srpska, Mr Karadzic is held responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when 7,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered in Europe's worst atrocity since the Nazi era, and the siege of Sarajevo,which caused 12,000 deaths and unspeakable suffering for over three years. Both men have $5m bounties on their heads.
Karazdic's 416-page book, the Miraculous Chronicle of the Night, is set in a town called S, easily recognised as Sarajevo, and describes a love affair involving a Serb psychiatrist. In case this roman à clef is too hard to crack, there is a picture of Mr Karadzic - once a psychiatrist - on the cover. The strong autobiographical element is a reminder of a man with a large ego and a small sense of responsibility. It is scandalous that he should have had the leisure to write anything but a confession. The fact that he has been able to publish a book does not inspire confidence that Nato and the Bosnian Serb police are doing enough to harass him and his network of loyal supporters so he can be brought to justice. The Guardian
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Radovan Karadzic was once a minor celebrity in the literary world of the Balkans. That was in the 1980s before he was catapulted to notoriety over his role as president of the Bosnian Serbs as the Yugoslav Federation fell apart. These days he is on the run from Nato peacekeepers somewhere in the remote mountains of eastern Bosnia or his native Montenegro, which is why he was unable to be present at the launch of his new novel in Belgrade on Monday. The manuscript was delivered by an intermediary, not in person over a long lunch. Whether Mr Karazdic is a contender for the Serb equivalent of the Booker Prize is not the issue: his previous works, including several volumes of sentimental nationalist poetry, were not best-sellers, though there have been expressions of interest in his latest book from publishers in Greece and Russia, where the Bosnian Serb cause is still in vogue.
What matters is that he is facing two counts of genocide at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Together with Ratko Mladic, the military leader of the Republika Srpska, Mr Karadzic is held responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when 7,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered in Europe's worst atrocity since the Nazi era, and the siege of Sarajevo,which caused 12,000 deaths and unspeakable suffering for over three years. Both men have $5m bounties on their heads.
Karazdic's 416-page book, the Miraculous Chronicle of the Night, is set in a town called S, easily recognised as Sarajevo, and describes a love affair involving a Serb psychiatrist. In case this roman à clef is too hard to crack, there is a picture of Mr Karadzic - once a psychiatrist - on the cover. The strong autobiographical element is a reminder of a man with a large ego and a small sense of responsibility. It is scandalous that he should have had the leisure to write anything but a confession. The fact that he has been able to publish a book does not inspire confidence that Nato and the Bosnian Serb police are doing enough to harass him and his network of loyal supporters so he can be brought to justice. The Guardian
