Over the past week Novak Djokovic returned to Bosnia where he was seen visiting the Visoko pyramids once again. His time in the region has caught the attention of many but not entirely for the right reason.
On social media, photos started to emerge of him sitting next to Milan Jolovic at a social event. Jolovic was once a commander of the Drina Wolves paramilitary unit, which participated in the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a somewhat controversial figure related to what is an extremely complicated history in the region.
During the 1990s more than 100,000 people were killed during the Bosnian War, according to figures provided by the The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Al Jazeera reports that Jolvic, who is known by the nickname ‘legend,’ is a celebrated figure in Serbia and is credited for saving the life of Ratko Mladic. A former Bosnian Serb commander who was found guilty in 2017 of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The photo of the two together have triggered mixed reactions from those in both Bosnia and Serbia who fought against each other in the War. Dragan Bursac from the Sarajevo Times took a shot at the 20-time Grand Slam champion for being awarded the Order of the Republika Srpska in 2020 for services to tennis.
“Djokovic could have been the greatest of all time, he could have represented the whole planet of sports and help out in a billion ways,” Bursac wrote.
“Instead, he shares a decoration with war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, he sings in village weddings with the Dodiks and picnics with people who were in charge of organising [military] operations which led to the genocide.”
At the other end of the spectrum, some are saying that a ‘dirty media war’ is being waged against Djokovic over the photos. Snezana Pajkic Jolovic is the wife of Milan Jolovic. She is a former athlete herself, who won a gold medal at the 1990 European Athletics Championships in the 1500 meters.
Djokovic and the Jolovic’s got acquainted with each other last year when he was visiting the pyramids in Bosnia. Over the weekend he attended one of their friends’ weddings and they spoke with each other. Snezana says she is proud of her husband and insists he has never done anything wrong. In the past Jolovic has insisted that throughout the war he ‘acted according to the Geneva Convention.’
“My husband is an honourable officer who was educated for his vocation, there is not a single stain on his biography. The fact that someone pulled out and used my husband to show everything in a negative context is a bad political campaign. It is insane to emphasize the whole story, because of us, and especially because of Novak,” she told Kurir newspaper.
“He doesn’t need this kind of advertising and chase. Novak hangs out with various people around the world. Should we now research every time about these personalities?”
Besides sitting next to Jolovic, Djokovic was also seen singing alongside Milorad Dodik who is the Serb Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the wedding of Nemanja Majdov. A former world champion Judo player from Serbia. Bosnia is governed by a three-member body which must consist of one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat.
Dodik is a renowned denier of the Bosnian genocide. Something which is not uncommon in the region with other notable figures, particularly from the Serbian side, having similar views. For example, a UN resolution in 2015 which would have classed the Srebrenica Massacre as genocide was vetoed by Russia. A move hailed by the president of Serbia at the time.
“There was no genocide in Srebrenica. There is no credible evidence or any other evidence that it was genocide,” AFP quoted Dodik as saying earlier this year.
The event he is referring to was a massacre that took place in 1995 where Bosnian Serb forces killed roughly 8,000 Muslim men in under two weeks. Something many experts have described as the world mass killing in Europe since World War Two.
Djokovic has not made any public comment concerning his recent visit to Bosnia.
