MASSACRE OF 62 CHILDREN IN SREBRENICA, 152 WOUNDED

UPDATE #2
October 22nd, 2008
17:32 PM

THE IDENTITY OF A "FACELESS CHILD VICTIM" REVEALED:

Disclaimer: Video clip features a survivor of child massacre in Srebrenica covered in blood and reaching to his mom and brother. Watch at your own discretion.

We would like to thank photographer James Mason (web site) for raisingthe awareness of the suffering of civilians in the Balkans during 1990's, as well as allowing us to use his copyrighted photos of a blinded child from Srebrenica here on Srebrenica Genocide Blog. James is a wonderful human being and we thank him dearly for documenting this horrible tragedy. We hope his photos will serve as a reminder that Srebrenica must never be forgotten. With the help from our readers, we were able to identify the child victim featured in James' photos. His name is Sead Bekric. He lost his sight, but he survived a brutal massacre of children in Srebrenica.

"Something caused the cease-fire to break down and an explosion went off in the field, killing 62 children and wounding 152 others. Bekric was hit with shrapnel on the left side of his face, breaking his skull into 24 pieces," reported Tampa Bay Newspapers and included Sead Bekric's latest photo.

Sead Bekric was only 12 years old when he lost his eyes. According to People magazine's contemporary account, "On Sunday, April 11 [1993], the 12-year-old Muslim boy was playing soccer in the embattled Bosnian city of Srebrenica when a Serbian artillery shell exploded on the field, killing several of his friends. As Sead ran over to help, shrapnel from a second shell tore into his face, shattering his nose and left eye socket and severely injuring his right eye. He was left blind."

A few days later, Sead Bekric was transported from Srebrenica to Tuzla where photographer James Mason managed to take his photos and document this horrific crime. "As soldiers unloaded the injured, a CNN camera crew recorded an unnamed, bandaged and bloodied boy, accompanied by his mother and younger brother. The boy reached over to touch the smaller child's face, begging him to be brave."

Soon, he was evacuated from Tuzla to the United States where he learned the braille - a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write. He also graduated from highschool and got his university degree in the United States - all with top honors.

"I am ready to live with my disability for the rest of my life. I am grateful that I am not one of those dead that were left on soccer field. I'm here to learn to adopt to the blindness. Learn a new life and deal as it is," said Sead Bekric (as quoted in Tampa Bay News).

VIDEO: Mother and brother visiting blinded Bosnian War victim Sead Bekric while he recovers at hospital in Tuzla. The victim is covered in blood. Younger brother is crying at bedside. Licence fee is required to view full version.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Sead Bekric also appeared at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and offered his testimony about the life in Srebrenica under siege. His testimony about Serbia's aerial bombing of the enclave is of particular importance, and it is still unclear as to why Bosnia's legal team hadn't invited him to testify in a case of Bosnia vs Serbia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Short excerpt from Sead Bekric's testimony at the ICTY (lines 24-11, page 9569):

/ 24 A. Yes. Later on when we tried to my sister and I tried to go back
/ 25 to Voljevica to gain food, there was fighter planes flying from Serbia
/ Page 9569
/ 1 area, from Bratunac area -- in Serbia from Bratunac, that direction, and
/ 2 other side of Drina going towards Bjelovac and bombing continuously that
/ 3 area. That was not a small planes that were bombing on the second day.
/ 4 That was fighter actual fighter planes.
/ 5 Q. So when did you see the fighter planes, what time of day?
/ 6 A. Mid-day probably noon or so, sometime that time, mid-day.
/ 7 Q. And is that on the same day, the second day as you're describing
/ 8 it?
/ 9 A. The second day when I saw those biplanes and those planes bombing
/ 10 I saw them but a few days after I tried to attempt to go to Voljevica I
/ 11 saw the mixed bombed area."

Related documents:
Partial list of Srebrenica Genocide child victims is located here (only covers period of July 1995).