Serbian trance DJ identified as alleged war criminal

Serbian trance DJ Srđan Golubović, aka DJ Max, has been identified as an alleged war criminal who was involved in the Bijeljina massacre, which was part of the Bosnian War, in April 1992.

A Rolling Stone investigation identified Golubović as the subject of one of the most famous photographs from the Bosnian War. The image was taken by the American photojournalist Ron Haviv and appears to show Golubović raising his leg in a kicking motion towards some civilians, lying on the ground after being shot.

Haviv also took photographs of the moments before and after the civilians pictured were shot. He also captured images appearing to show Golubović in Bijeljina at the time of the massacre.

A defining image of the Bosnia war, one of the best war photographs of our times, shot by @ronhaviv in 1992 — and @RollingStone today publishes an astonishing investigative article about the mysterious soldier with white sunglasses at its center. https://t.co/YHow0tfd6A pic.twitter.com/u7ihgXW0nt

— Peter Maass (@maassp) December 30, 2022

Rolling Stone also found that he was also on the payroll of Arkan’s Tigers, the Serbian paramilitary group who are believed to have been behind a number of atrocities during the Bosnian War, including the Bijeljina massacre. Only one of them, however has faced prosecution for war crimes. According to BalkanInsight, Boban Arsic was convicted in absentia in Croatia.

Golubović has reportedly been DJing since the ’90s and was involved in Belgrade’s underground electronic music scene. He has been part of trance DJ collective Xperiment and founded a record label, Ultra Groove Records. The DJ has also played at some of Serbia’s biggest clubs and festivals, including EXIT Festival, where he last appeared in 2016.

EXIT Festival told Rolling Stone that it cut ties with him after learning about the allegations of his involvement in the war. It said in a statement: “EXIT has always been more than a music festival, promoting the values of peace, love and tolerance among young people – values that our region desperately needed.”

The Bosnian War took took place in former Yugoslavian republic Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. It was one of the bloodiest wars and genocides in history, with around 100,000 civilians believed to have been killed, the majority being Bosniak-Muslims, and 2million displaced.

The post Serbian trance DJ identified as alleged war criminal appeared first on NME.