War Crimes Suspect Ratko Mladić Brandy Sold in Montenegro
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CroRadio.net
Jan 15, 2009, 1:26:17 AM1/15/09
to Croatian News
http://www.balkantravellers.com/en/read/article/972
War Crimes Suspect Ratko Mladić Brandy Sold in Montenegro
BalkanTravellers.com
14 January 2009 | Residents and visitors of Montenegro's town of
Sutomore now have the opportunity to try some rakija, or brandy, from
a bottle adorned by the face of the indicted war criminal Ratko
Mladić.
The special-issue bottles are offered in restaurants in the small
coastal town of Sutomore, the Macedonian Makfax news agency reported
today. The brandy's unknown producer has managed to distribute the
beverage quite well, according to the report, and some restaurant
clients already order 'Ratko Mladić's grape rakija' without being
prompted.
It is most likely that the brandy is being made by an unregistered
company from Crmnica, a region close to Sutomore, the national
newspaper Dan reported.
Mladić served as the Chief of Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska,
the Bosnian Serb Army, during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995. There has
been an outstanding international arrest warrant against him, after he
was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia in 1995 and accused of genocide, crimes against humanity,
and numerous war crimes, including the alleged sniping campaign
against civilians in Sarajevo and the attack on the United Nations-
declared safe area of Srebrenica in 1995.
Today's publications do not clarify what the purpose of the bottles
adorned with Mladić's image is: whether it is just one of the latest
attempts on the part of a Balkan country to use its recent war-torn
history as an attraction to tourists, which BalkanTravellers.com wrote
about, or whether it copies the concept that gained popularity in the
US in the 1980s of putting faces of missing or kidnapped children on
milk cartons, in an attempt to attract wide attention and get people
to notice and report the person who had abducted the child (or in this
case, the alleged war criminal).
Whatever the aim, the unlicensed rakija bottles are likely to become
another of the Balkans' unlikely souvenirs, managing as they do to
combine two images that are discordant and at the same quite symbolic
of the region: that of the indicted war criminal and the well-loved
rakija.
Although known under different names - raki in Albanian, Greek and
Turkish, rakija in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian and rachiu in
Romanian, the drink made of fermented fruits - most commonly grapes or
plums, enjoys immense popularity in the entire Balkans region.
War Crimes Suspect Ratko Mladić Brandy Sold in Montenegro
BalkanTravellers.com
14 January 2009 | Residents and visitors of Montenegro's town of
Sutomore now have the opportunity to try some rakija, or brandy, from
a bottle adorned by the face of the indicted war criminal Ratko
Mladić.
The special-issue bottles are offered in restaurants in the small
coastal town of Sutomore, the Macedonian Makfax news agency reported
today. The brandy's unknown producer has managed to distribute the
beverage quite well, according to the report, and some restaurant
clients already order 'Ratko Mladić's grape rakija' without being
prompted.
It is most likely that the brandy is being made by an unregistered
company from Crmnica, a region close to Sutomore, the national
newspaper Dan reported.
Mladić served as the Chief of Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska,
the Bosnian Serb Army, during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995. There has
been an outstanding international arrest warrant against him, after he
was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia in 1995 and accused of genocide, crimes against humanity,
and numerous war crimes, including the alleged sniping campaign
against civilians in Sarajevo and the attack on the United Nations-
declared safe area of Srebrenica in 1995.
Today's publications do not clarify what the purpose of the bottles
adorned with Mladić's image is: whether it is just one of the latest
attempts on the part of a Balkan country to use its recent war-torn
history as an attraction to tourists, which BalkanTravellers.com wrote
about, or whether it copies the concept that gained popularity in the
US in the 1980s of putting faces of missing or kidnapped children on
milk cartons, in an attempt to attract wide attention and get people
to notice and report the person who had abducted the child (or in this
case, the alleged war criminal).
Whatever the aim, the unlicensed rakija bottles are likely to become
another of the Balkans' unlikely souvenirs, managing as they do to
combine two images that are discordant and at the same quite symbolic
of the region: that of the indicted war criminal and the well-loved
rakija.
Although known under different names - raki in Albanian, Greek and
Turkish, rakija in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian and rachiu in
Romanian, the drink made of fermented fruits - most commonly grapes or
plums, enjoys immense popularity in the entire Balkans region.
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