They Wouldn't Hurt a Fly: War Criminals from the Balkans

They wouldn't hurt a fly, said a witness before the Yugoslavia Tribunal in the case against Goran Jelisvic, a Bosnian Serb who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for executing 13 prisoners. Before the war broke out, Jelisvic was a regular fisherman and was friends with Muslims. Slavenka Drakulic examines the life stories of war criminals brought before the Tribunal for reasons for their later crimes. The central question is always how it is possible that normal people in extreme situations are capable of committing horrific crimes.