"They caught Ratko!"

The moment I walked into Sanjin's apartment last night, he pointed excitedly at the TV. "Look! They caught fucking Ratko Mladic!" Mladic was the Serb army's top general in Bosnia during the war. He is one of the most wanted criminals in the world, indicted for orchestrating the Srebrenica genocide, the siege of Sarajevo, and for command responsibility of Serb war crimes in general. His capture would rank as one of the biggest news stories in the Balkans in recent years. Rumours of his imminent arrest have been in the news ever since I got here, though the ingrained local cynicism means that no one will believe it until they see it with their own eyes.

We sat glued to the TV, watching the Bosnian news as the reports came in, even though I didn't understand a bloody word. Sanjin started making phone calls telling everyone "Ratko Mladic Serif Mubarek Olsun!" which is a riff on the Bosnian for "Happy Bajram"-- in other words "Happy Ratko Mladic Day!" He explained to me that there is a Balkan custom in which when you are the first to give a friend good news, he owes you a gift. "I'm going to be rich today!" he joked, as he tapped away on the cellphone.

But overall, reaction from this particular Bosnian was muted. "He was a jerk, still is a jerk, and will always be a jerk. Nothing's changed, life goes on," was Sanjin's take.

Soon it appeared that maybe nothing really had changed. The news stations started reporting that they were no longer certain he was actually captured. The Serbian government issued a denial, though that was to be expected regardless. As it stands right now, confusion reigns. Some say he is surrounded and his surrender is imminent, others that he is currently being transported to the Hague, and yet others that it was a complete hoax.

I called Adnan for his reaction. "Well, it was good while it lasted," was all he could muster, seemingly already resigned to the fact that Mladic is still at large. Perhaps before the day is out we will know for sure.