FIRST REPORTS OF EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA GENOCIDE

The following article was published by Herald-Journal on 14 July 1995, three days after the fall of Srebrenica. This news report was located, scanned, re-typed from newspapers and then sent to us by the Bosniak and Jewish Solidarity. Thank you for your contribution.

"...She also saw [Serb] rebels shoot a woman and a 10-year-old boy. Two other refugees - women aged 17 and 23 with young children in tow - say they saw Serbs shoot a 50-year-old man and a boy of 5 [five year old]."

Refugees Tell Tales of Serb Atrocities in Srebrenica

By: Snjezana Vukic

TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Hata Salihovic says she wrapped her arms tightly around her 22-year-old son and screamed at the Bosnian Serb soldiers.

The young man can neither hear nor speak, she pleaded.

She waved papers to prove he'd never been in the army.

"I begged them to kill me, but to let him go."

Nothing worked.

"They just dragged him from me," the mother says, calling out Sead's name between sobs.

Thousands of exhausted refugees, deported by rebel Serbs determined to clear all Muslims [Bosniaks] from the fallen "safe area" of Srebrenica by Friday, tumbled off packed trucks and buses Thursday at Tuzla, 36 miles northwest, with tales of terror.

They claim Serb soldiers, making cruel jokes, dragged off young women, tore men and boys from their families, shot civilians and burned houses. As the convoy passed through Serb-held villages, they say, civilians stoned the sweltering buses.

It was impossible to confirm the refugees' harrowing accounts immediately: All journalists were banned from the deportation staging area, and the Serbs refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers to supervise the bus loading or to accompany the refugees caravan.

Earlier in the week, their city already pounded by Serb shells, many frightened Muslims [Bosniaks] had fled to the nearby village of Potocari, sleeping in the open outside the compound housing 400 Dutch peacekeepers. Some had not eaten for days.

Wednesday morning, the Serbs captured Potocari and brought buses to take away the Muslims [Bosniaks].

The tattered, weary refugees were driven to the front line, about 27 miles west of Srebrenica, then made to walk more than a mile to U.N. vehicles that ferried them to Tuzla. Those too weak or sick to walk were taken back to Srebrenica.

By Thursday night, [of 40,000] some 8,000 refugees had reached Tuzla, with thousands more reported crossing the front line elsewhere.

The invasion of Srebrenica, the deportation of its civilians and the separation of families are being investigated as "a crime against humanity," said Christian Chartier of the international war crimes tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.

One refugee in Tuzla says a Serb soldier did give her a bar of chocolate, her first food in two days, but she claims she also saw rebels shoot a woman and a 10-year-old boy.

Two other refugees - women aged 17 and 23 with young children in tow - say they saw Serbs shoot a 50-year-old man and a boy of 5 [five year old].

Continue reading next page, Serbs raped Bosnian Muslim women after the fall of Srebrenica>>>