Gruban Malić

Gruban Malić is a fictional character from Miodrag Bulatović's novel Hero on a Donkey. Gruban is portrayed as an outsider, but also as a macho^[1].

While the novel, or indeed, its author, are not among worldwide known ones, Gruban gained world fame when he was indicted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia^[2]. According to the indictment,

25.1. Between early June and 3 August 1992, a guard at the Omarska camp with the surname GRUBAN, who was a member of Mladen RADIC's shift, repeatedly forced "F" from the room where she was sleeping, took her to another room on the first floor of the administration building in the Omarska camp and subjected her to forcible sexual intercourse.

25.2. GRUBAN wilfully caused "F" great suffering by subjecting her to forcible sexual intercourse, a GRAVE BREACH recognised by Article 2(c) of the Statute of the Tribunal, or;

25.3. Alternatively, GRUBAN subjected "F" to cruel treatment by forcible sexual intercourse, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS OF WAR recognised by Article 3 of the Statute of the Tribunal and Article 3(1)(a) of the Geneva Conventions.

25.4. GRUBAN raped "F", a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY recognised by Article 5(g) of the Statute of the Tribunal.^[3]

It turns out that this was a practical joke played by Serbian war reporter Nebojsa Jevric on his American colleague^[4]. The charge was not unreasonable as another person with the name Gruban- Momcilo Gruban, aka Ckalja, was charged as a supervisor in the same indictment for actions at the same location. The charges against "unknown" Gruban were dropped on May 8 1998^[5].

References

1. ^ Tihomir Brajovic: Autsajderska paradigma i rat
2. ^ Srpska Mreza: Hero on a Donkey Goes to the Hague
3. ^ International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: CASE NO. IT-95-4-I
4. ^ Srpska Mreza, Op. cit.
5. ^ International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: CC/PIU/314-E