How the International Criminal Tribunal influenced the creation of a character

Truffle Hunt, Eckhartz Press, 2015

When I began the research for what would become my novel Truffle Hunt in 2011, I was shocked to find that almost 20 years after the war in the former Yugoslavia, they had only just completed the round-up of the war criminals.

Many were living openly in the newly formed countries of Serbia and Croatia, protected by allies in the government and local sympathizers.  Others fled to South America where they were eventually apprehended.  And some went underground and had to be rooted out before they could face justice.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a part of the United Nations and operated out The Hague in The Netherlands, indicted 161 persons for war crimes during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.  Charges like genocide, murder, and rape were prosecuted and 83 were found guilty and sentenced.  Another 13 had their cases transferred to other courts and 17 died awaiting trial.  Of the 83 sentenced, only 16 remain imprisoned. 

The court has been closed and pending appeals transferred after its last case, the trial of Ratko Mladic, aka The Butcher of Bosnia, was completed with a guilty verdict on counts including genocide and crimes against humanity after a 5 1/2 year trial.  Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the notorious ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica as well as the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo. 

One of the interesting aspects of these trials and that many of the men indicted were hiding in plain sight.  There has never been a true reconciliation between Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia.  So, the anger and resentment that was present before and during the war remains.  Many in the region believe that the atrocities committed in the name of nationalism were justified, and, therefore, the perpetrators were hailed as heroes rather than war criminals.  As such, they were protected and hidden from authorities.

That changed, however, when Croatia began to show interest in applying for entry to the EU.  EU regulations do not allow for wanted war criminals to be living freely withing an EU member's borders.  So, as if by magic, these wanted men began popping up on the news in handcuffs, being taken away by Croatian police and extradited to The Hague.  The same thing happened when Serbia expressed interest in joining the EU.  The last suspect was apprehended in 2011.  Today, Croatia is a member of the EU, Serbia has not yet been admitted.
  
In my novel, I created the character of Boris, a Serbian war criminal who is trying to reignite the war in Croatia, after reading about the men who illegally prosecuted the war in the 90's.  Although Boris is not based on any single person, I did take a couple items from the life of Milan Babić, a Serbian war criminal.  For example, Babić told the story of how, as a young boy, Croats tried to get his family to leave their village by carving threats into a tree with a knife.  I took this image and expanded on it in Truffle Hunt.