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Generals Nebojsa Pavkovic and Vladimir Lazarevic in 2001. Both were later convicted of war crimes. Photo: Beta.

Medija Centar Odbrana, a publishing house that is part of Serbia’s Defence Ministry, has published Nebojsa Pavkovic’s book about the NATO military campaign against Belgrade’s forces in Kosovo in 1999, Serbian newspaper Blic reported on Wednesday.

The former general, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Finland after his 2009 conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, wrote a diary in four volumes entitled ‘The Third Battalion in ‘Merciful Angel’s Embrace for 78 Days’, Blic reported.

Pavkovic was the commander of the Yugoslav Army’s Third Battalion during the Kosovo war. ‘Merciful Angel’ is the ironic name that Serbian officials and media gave to NATO’s Operation Allied Force, which lasted 78 days and was aimed at ending Belgrade’s crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.

The book was promoted at the Belgrade Book Fair. According to the Defence Ministry, Pavkovic’s diary is part of a series of books that relate the memories of former participants of the 1999 war.

“The former chief of staff pointed out the heroism of the defenders of the fatherland during the NATO aggression, but also the disputed moments during the 1999 conflict, such as disagreements with the Interior Ministry, desertions and other unknown details of the time,” the ministry said on its website.

According to the ministry, the book also praises the general’s wartime associates, such as general Vladimir Lazarevic, who was convicted alongside Pavkovic and given a hero’s welcome by the Serbian government when he returned from prison in 2015.

In 2017, Lazarevic was invited by the Defence Ministry to give a lecture at the Serbian Military Academy, which drew condemnation from the European Union.

The Serbian authorities have welcomed other freed war criminals and helped them become active participants in public and political life.

Former Yugoslav Army officer Veselin Sljivancanin, who served time in prison for war crimes related to the fighting around Vukovar in Croatia, is a frequent guest at events held by President Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive Party.

Another convicted war criminal, former deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, was given an official position in the Socialist Party, which is the Progressives’ main coalition partner.

The organisers of the state-sponsored Belgrade Book Fair also gave a stand at the event to Greater Serbia, the publishing house of another convicted war criminal, the Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj.

Serbian website Mondo reported on Wednesday that some elementary and high school children visited Seselj’s stand to ask for autographs and take pictures.

Read more:

State of Denial: The Books Rewriting the Bosnian War



How Did War Criminals Become Serbia’s Heroes?