15 YEARS SINCE DAYTON, USHMM INTERVIEW

Voices on Genocide Prevention, from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This month, Bosnia-Herzegovina marked the fifteenth anniversary of the agreement that ended the war defined by the ICTY as an international conflict involving Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia. The National Endowment for Democracy’s Ivana Howard offered insights to USHMM's Bridget Conley-Zilkic on how this agreement has structured post-war Bosnia and why it is inadequate to take the country into the future.

LISTEN: Audio Recording

SERB TORTURE OF BOSNIAKS 3YRS BEFORE SREBRENICA MASSACRE

Three years before the Srebrenica massacre (full report), Serbs around Srebrenica tortured and killed thousands of Bosnian Muslim civilians in the most sadistic ways possible. Recently, Branko Popovic and Branko Grujic - two Serbs found guilty by Serbia's court for the slaughter of 700 Bosniak civilians in Zvornik - received extremely light sentences. Currently, there are three more Serbs on trial in Serbia for similar crimes that occurred in this nearby municipality. Their names are: Darko Jankovic, Sasa Cilerdzic and Goran Savic. They tortured Bosnian Muslim civilians in Čelopek camp by cutting their ears and fingers, forcing fathers to have sex with their sons, raping women and machine gunning helpless civilian prisoners to death.

Photo of the victims courtesy: Dnevni Avaz. ↓

Link:
Association of the Imprisoned and Missing Persons from the Zvornik Municipality

PROF. EMIL VLAJKI, RACIST GENOCIDE DENIER

Discredited genocide denier, Prof. Emil Vlajki, recently stated (Nezavisne, 28 Nov 2010) that he has "evidence from the western sources that Jews are guilty for the suffering of Serbian people." He also denied that Serb forces perpetrated genocide of Bosniak population at Srebrenica in July of 1995.  CONTINUE READING  ↓ 

Recent denials of the Srebrenica genocide and anti-semitic statements by Prof. Emil Vlajki merit special attention. Emil Vlajki is a rather controversial politician and an outspoken defender of Serbian causes. Although his real ethnic background is yet to be established, formerly he declared himself as Yugoslav and on occassions Jewish, but recently he suddenly became Croatian (after suspiciously popping up on electoral ballot and winning vice-presidential seat with only 6,000 votes, or 600 votes more than the next candidate for the Bosnian Serb entity known as Republika Srpska). 

He claims that his father Lujo Vlajki was Croat who died in World War II and his mother was Jewish who divorced his father and later re-married in Israel. However, in the archives of “Most”, the bulletin of the Association of immigrants from former Yugoslavia in Israel, we find that his mother was Bulgarian woman named Marija Vlajki “Bela” (aka: Ashkenazi Belina) who converted to Catholicism after marrying his father. Whether Emil Vlajki was later put up for adoption, presumably to Serbian parents owing to his pro-Serb leanings, remains a mystery. He was raised by 'someone' without both parents... by who? We don't know yet.

Whatever his true identity is, Vlajki's troubling statements deserve more scrutiny. According to SRNA [Serbian Radio Newspaper Agency], he recently stated “there was no genocide in Srebrenica because 30,000 women, children, sick and elderly were 'safely' released to their homes“ and that “he has evidence from the western sources that Jews are guilty for the suffering of Serbian people."

Srebrenica: what are the facts?

In 1992, three years before the genocide, Serb Army burned almost 300 Bosnian Muslim villages  around Srebrenica and neighbouring municipalities [*if hamlets were counted separately, that number would be closer to 1,000 settlements]. In July of 1995, Serbs committed genocide. According to the appellate judgement of Radislav Krstic, Serb forces “targeted for extinction the forty thousand [40,000] Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica…. Constrained by the circumstances, they adopted the method which would allow them to implement the genocidal design while minimizing the risk of retribution.” Contrary to Emil Vlajki's allegations, Serb forces led by Gen. Ratko Mladić did not release any captured Bosniak civilians to their homes. Instead, dressed in Dutch UN peacekeepers' uniforms, Serb forces had brutally raped between 1,100 and 1,500 Bosniak women and underage girls. At least 499 underage boys were slaughtered in the Srebrenica massacre.

Serb forces disguised the separation of Bosniak men from their families, and the subsequent summary massacres, as a ‘military operation’, while at the same time they decided to forcibly expel women and children from the enclave. The judgement states that, “The decision not to kill the women or children may be explained by the Bosnian Serbs’ sensitivity to public opinion. In contrast to the killing of the captured military men, such an action could not easily be kept secret, or disguised as a military operation, and so carried an increased risk of attracting international censure.”

It was Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić that instructed his troops to rape Bosniak women and girls and slaughter men and boys. According to the witness, Nedžida Sadiković, General Mladić announced "the feast of blood" on 12 July 1995.

"Mladić exclaimed, 'There are so many,' as he spotted the large number of men and boys in the crowd of several thousand refugees. 'It is going to be a 'meze' (a long, delectable feast). There will be blood up to your knees,' Sadikovic, 42, remembered him saying. 'Beatiful. Keep the good ones over there. Enjoy them,' he told his troops, according to Sadikovic."

According to eye-witness described as 'Plaintif No 10,' "Girls were continually being taken out of the group and they were raped. I was very afraid. I knew a woman whose daughter was taken out of the group and was never seen again. That daughter was a year older than me. My mother was taken by Serbs from the group of refugees during the night of 12th to 13th July 1995. She was then raped. I cannot speak any more of that. She never recovered from that and a year later died of cancer of the womb. She was then 37 years old."

According to testimony of Ramiza Gurdić, "I saw how a young boy of about ten was killed by Serbs in Dutch uniform. This happened in front of my own eyes. The mother sat on the ground and her young son sat beside her. The young boy was placed on his mother’s lap. The young boy was killed. His head was cut off. The body remained on the lap of the mother. The Serbian soldier placed the head of the young boy on his knife and showed it to everyone...I saw how a pregnant woman was slaughtered. There were Serbs who stabbed her in the stomach, cut her open and took two small children out of her stomach and then beat them to death on the ground. I saw this with my own eyes."

According to testimony by Kada Hotić, "There was a young woman with a baby on the way to the bus. The baby cried and a Serbian soldier told her that she had to make sure that the baby was quiet. Then the soldier took the child from the mother and cut its throat."

According to Munira Šubašić, "I saw yet more frightful things. For example, there was Chetniks recommended to her brother that he rape the girl. He did not do it and I also think that he could not have done it for he was still just a child. Then they murdered that young boy. I have personally seen all that. I really want to emphasize that all this happened in the immediate vicinity of the base."

"Zarfa Turković says she watched through half-closed eyes, pretending to sleep, hoping she would not be next, as four Bosnian Serb men raped a 28-year old Muslim woman... Two took her legs and raised them up in the air, while the third began raping her. People were silent, no one moved. She was screaming and yelling and begging them to stop. They put her a rag into her mouth, and then we were just hearing silent sobs coming from her closed lips. When they finished, the woman was left there."

Kadir Habibovic - who hid himself on one of the first buses taking women and children from the Dutch United Nations base in Potocari to government-held territory in Kladanj, "saw at least one vehicle full of Muslim women being driven away from Bosnian government-held territory."

SUFFERING OF ROMA PEOPLE MUST NOT BE OVERLOOKED

The Roma communities in Europe suffer massive discrimination. They are denied their rights to housing, employment, healthcare and education, and are often victims of prejudice, hatred, and racist attacks. Here is a short overview of the suffering Roma people experience in and around Srebrenica in the 1992-95 Bosnian war...

A Roma family are seen outside their temporary accommodation, backdropped by the largest office block in central Sarajevo, Bosnia, Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.

Society for Threatened Peoples -- During the war, but also afterwards and even today, many Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina, depending on their place of living, declare themselves as members of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) population....

Before the war Roma mostly lived in the territory which is now called Republika Srpska. During the aggression, they too, just like the Bosniaks, were exposed to expulsions, deportations, killings, torturing. Our research has shown that Roma were detained in the concentration camps together with the others. The worst situation was for Roma from Prijedor and surrounding villages (Kozarac, Hambarine, Tukovi, Rizvanovici), then for Roma from Vlasenica, Rogatica, Srebrenica. In Srebrenica, the massacre against 70 Romani people was committed before the town fell.

Statement of B.O from Srebrenica:

"I am from Srebrenica. In 1995 in Srebrenica, massacre against 70 Romani people, among whom was my brother-in-law Mustafa Beharic, was committed. At the same time in the village of Skelani - 10 km away from Srebrenica, 50 Roma were killed. Among them were my two nephews Beharic Mujo and Beharic Haso. In Skelani village, Arkan troops [*Serbian paramilitary unit that participated in the massacres of Muslim in and around Srebrenica from 1992-1995] also killed my four relatives Mehici. Simultaneously, massacres were committed in Roma settlements Bjelovac (Bratunac) and Drinjaca (14 km from Zvornik). Roma from Potocari were especially exposed to suffering, and that is where my son and my brother were killed. [*note from the Oric judgement: 'During this period, Srebrenica was subjected to indiscriminate shelling from all directions on a daily basis. Potocari in particular was a daily target for Serb artillery and infantry because it was a sensitive point in the defence line around Srebrenica.']"

More than 300 Roma were detained in the camp in Miljkovci, near Doboj. Among detained Roma was the family of A.E from Modrica: father, mother and eight children. Below is the part of the A.E's statement:

"In this camp - which was one big warehouse - around 700 people out of which 300 Roma were detained. My eldest daughter H., who at that time was 13, was constantly raped in front of our eyes. After each rape my wife had to prepare and serve coffee to chetniks. I had to throw killed people in the river Bosnia. I threw them like clogs, I was not allowed to look or to ask any questions. One day I counted 120 killed people that I had to throw in the river and was waiting for my turn to be killed...." - August 1992. The statement of A.E is filed in the documentation of the Bosnian section of the Society for Threatened Peoples under the number 86/94. Romani people were the first victims of Arkan troops in Bijeljina.

On 3 April 1992 Zehidin Hasimovic was killed. Three Arkan soldiers shot him in the vicinity of the police station, in Jozef Konkal street, nearby Roma settlement - Sljunkara. He had a wife and five children. This statement is in the documentation of the Bosnian section of the Society for Threatened Peoples under the number 199/95.

Near Zvornik, from the village of Skocica, all Romani people were expelled. Children were separated from their mothers. Five children age 5 to 15 were taken away from Aganovic family. Family Ribic with their eight children had the same destiny. Speculations are that the children are in Sabac and Krusevac where they live under different names. Minors, Aganovic Izeta (14) and Aganovic Safeta (16), were taken to the above mentioned towns and were forced to marry. They were given Serb names. Two years after they have been taken away and with the assistance of the International Red Cross, their parents managed to get them back.

Roma in Bijeljina were victims of Arkan forces - so called "triplets". Melkic couple was slaughtered in their own house. Milkic family was one of the wealthiest in Bijeljina. In the house of Hamid Ribic, in May 1992, chetniks slaughtered six Roma families: Aganovic Mehmed, Nuhanovic Arif, Ribic Ismet, Ribic Biber, Ferhatovic Bisera, Bajric Dzemila. The statement is in the documentation of the Bosnian section of the Society for Threatened Peoples under the number 206/95.

Roma who were living on the territory which is now called Federation defended their country together with the B&H Army. Within the B&H Army a brigade consisting of Romani men was formed and it was called "The Sooty Brigade". However, the ability to adapt to social environment in the situation of the war chaos, led Roma to join armies of the majority population in the places where they lived. This resulted in their internal conflicts and further displacements. The village of Jasenje, in Bijeljina Municipality, can serve as the best example of this. Around 500 Roma lived in this village before the war. Affiliation to the opposing warrant armies during the war resulted in complete division among Romani population of the village. In other words, the fact that the village was on the territory under the authority of Serb majority population, led a large number of Romani population in the village to join Serb military forces at the beginning of the war. When later on, the village became part of the Federation B&H, the families who supported "the Serb side" moved out and they still have the status of displaced persons. They are refusing to return to their original homes fearing possible harassment because of their participation in the Serb military forces during the war.

On the other hand, the war by its nature had a very strong influence on a large-scale displacements of Romani. They were expelled or had to flee in order to save their lives. As a result of combination of different factors, the situation with this ethnic minority today can be described as alarming. For instance, before the war, larger number of Roma lived in the territory which is now called Republika Srpska than in the territory of Federation. Now, there are only about 100 of them living in the whole Serb entity. From the part of Federation territory which, during the war, was controlled by HVO [Croatian Defence Council] and today by HDZ party [Croatian Democratic Party], also recorded were large-scale movements of Romani population (especially from the towns of Jajce, Mostar West, Livno and Tomislavgrad). Destinations of their war-caused movements are various. In principle we can talk about two directions: one that goes abroad, primarily to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and the second one that leads to different areas in Federation B&H. Still, it has to be emphasised that the majority arrived in [the Bosniak-controlled] Tuzla-Podrinje Canton. Large concentration of Romani in this Canton can be explained with their inability to return to their original homes in Bijeljina, Ugljevik, Zvornik, Brcko, but also with their need to be physically close to their homes and as soon as conditions are created to be able to return to their homes in safety.

NASER ORIC, VOTED THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE

A lighter side of Naser Oric: In 2007, former commander in charge of defending the enclave of Srebrenica was voted the sexiest man alive in Bosnia-Herzegovina by AZRA Magazine.

Former military officer of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) who commanded the defense of the enclave of Srebrenica - which was surrounded by notorious Serb forces led by Gen. Ratko Mladic during the 1992-1995 war - is one of people who are actively involved in sports, owing to his youthful look.

In his 40s, Naser Oric tells us that his usual style of fashion involves sports apparel, but on festive occasions he doesn't mind wearing a suit. He buys most of his wardrobe in our country, but sometimes he goes shopping abroad.

World renowned Bosnian fashion designer "GRANOFF" is Naser's favorite brand for suits. With shirts, he always buys a sophisticated tie.

He is not a stranger to popular cosmetics:

"I love high-quality cosmetics, and in this area I choose brands labeled 'Vichy', and on the shelf with perfumes I usually reach for the brands labeled 'Dolce & Gabbana,'" said Naser Oric, adding that he likes to choose the scent himself and that he visits only one cosmetic salon.

On a dinner table, Naser Oric pays attention to his diet: he maintains body weight by avoding sweets. He cares about healthy diet and drinks plenty of water.

Naser gets plenty of compliments and says there is really not many people who don't appreciate receiving them:

"Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I thank people for their compliments, depending on the situation."

As hairstyle is one of the defining mirrors of fashion, Naser likes to experiment in this field:

"I dye my hair. If you asked me why, I would not be able to give you the right answer. When I was in the Hague, I dyed my hair blond like a real Dutchman! I am not shy about it, I do it for the appearance."

In addition to his active sports life, Naser Oric  has also been practicing yoga for a long time.

BOSNIA BLAMED FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH FOR CIVILIAN VICTIMS OF WAR

On the Basis of a Report Filed by 12 Associations to the Committee against Torture, the UN issues Strong Recommendations to BiH

The associations expect BiH at last to quickly fulfill its international obligations

The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) issued recommendations to BiH for resolving the problems related to missing persons and victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence during the war. These recommendations were formulated after the organization TRIAL, along with 11 local associations from all of BiH, filed a 80-page-long report last October, on the subject of enforced disappearances and rape or other forms of sexual violence during the war. The CAT recommendations emphasized some of the progress made by the State but also highlighted the remaining obstacles to the full implementation of the UN Convention against Torture by BiH. For TRIAL, it is evident that the CAT considers that BiH does not respect its international obligations defined in the Convention against Torture and must swiftly undertake policy changes with regards to civilian victims of the war.

«The Committee does not consider that the unsolved problems of victims of sexual violence and of relatives of missing persons belong to the past», stated Lejla Mamut - Abaspahić, TRIAL Coordinator for Human Rights in BiH. She added that «authorities at all levels should swiftly adapt the legal framework to international standards and provide integral reparations to civilian victims of war». Speaking about the details of the Report to the CAT, Mrs. Mamut – Abaspahić emphasized that the families of missing persons and victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence most frequently face problems such as the slow pace of tracing missing persons; the non existence of documenting of missing persons; the lack of redress for families of missing persons and victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence; persisting impunity; and the lack of witness protection and shortage of psycho-social support for victims.

The CAT clearly emphasized the obligation to bring all perpetrators of war crimes to justice. «We are particularly pleased that the UN calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina to especially prosecute authors of sexual crimes» said Selma Korjenić, TRIAL Human Rights Officer in charge of sexual violence, noting that such crimes have so far not been given the attention they deserve. Mrs. Korjenić highlighted the welcomed CAT recommendations linked to some problematic issues: the changes in the legal definition of torture and its harmonization in the entities laws; the needed modification of the definition of sexual violence; the obligation to tackle impunity; the necessity to enforce Constitutional Court judgments; the requirement to adopt a law on victims of torture and civilian victims as well as the Strategy for Transitional Justice.

TRIAL and its partner organizations have in the past repeatedly underlined the frequent lack of implementation of Constitutional Court judgments. The Committee agrees that «it is necessary to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s judgments without further delay, in particular with regard to cases on enforced disappearances, and prosecute failure to comply with such judgments». TRIAL will thus shortly write to the Constitutional Court and to the State Prosecutor to call on them to urgently and earnestly follow this important recommendation.

The Committee granted Bosnia and Herzegovina a full year to make good on its recommendations and report back to it. TRIAL will monitor this process and interact with the various national and local actors involved, and in due time will provide the Committee with the relevant information.

For more info:

· See the CAT recommendations here.

· See the TRIAL report here.

· See the executive summary of the report here.

· Contacts:

Lejla Mamut - Abaspahić:

Selma Korjenić:

· TRIAL website: www.trial-ch.org (ENG)

www.trial-ch.org/BiH (BOS)

SERB WITNESS, "EVERYBODY KNEW ABOUT THE EXECUTIONS IN SREBRENICA"

There were children among the Srebrenica massacre victims,
The people from Serbia could watch the executions in Srebrenica across the River Drina

Tanacko Tanic, Serb witness at the trial of Chemical Tolimir (Zdravko Tolimir), testified that the Bosniaks captured after the fall of Srebrenica were executed ‘in public’: ‘everybody knew’ about them. According to SENSE Agency:

"Tanic was there on the orders of his superiors in the logistics company of the Zvornik Brigade. In the schoolyard, Tanic saw two dead bodies and prisoners being put on the trucks. He also saw a pile of bags and personal possessions that was left behind. Tanic claims it was clear to him that those people were not going to be exchanged as they had been told. The indictment alleges that approximately 1,000 Muslims were executed at a site near Orahovac on 14 July 1995. There were children among them... Besides, ‘all the executions were carried out in broad daylight and in public and everybody knew about them’, the witness insisted. The people from Serbia could watch the executions in Kozluk, near the Drina river, Tanic said; that day, the executions went on ‘from noon to midnight and everybody knew about them’, he added."

Continue reading this report at SENSE Agency web site >>>>

OSTOJA KRSTIC, MILENKO KRSTIC, ZELJKO BOSKOVIC - AND BRYAN DENSON

Lenient Justice: Slap in the Face of the Victims

Earlier this month, Zeljko Boskovic, a 50-year-old Beaverton (Oregon) resident, received only 3 year probation for lying about his genocidal past to obtain asylum in the United States. Records introduced as evidence at trial showed that Boskovic was a member of the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army that played a major role in the mass executions of 8,372 Srebrenica men and boys. Boskovic was an infantry man, carrying a machine gun, at the scene of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

Another suspect, Ostoja Krstic from Cedar Mill - brother of suspected war criminal Milenko Krstic from Beaverton area - admitted to a federal judge in Portland on Monday that he lied about his military past to fraudulently obtain asylum in the United States. Ostoja Krstic and his brother Milenko Krstic were members of the notorious Zvornik Briade of the Bosnian Serb Army that participated in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Ostoja carried a machine gun, while Milenko provided logistical support.

During his trial (few months earlier), Milenko Krstic presented himself as a former "peace activist" and denied he ever did anything wrong. He worked at the headquarters of the Bosnian Serb army providing logistical support to notorious Serb units responsible for terrorizing and systematically murdering more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians and prisoners in July 1995. As a proven habitual liar, Milenko Krstic regularly presents himself as a victim, claiming he was a 'peace-maker' who was "forced into war."

Reporter from The Oregonian, Bryan Denson, appears to have befriended Krstic's family and repeatedly spearheaded one sided news reports in support of the Serbs. Allegedly, Krstic was a "peace activist" whose village Zeljova (near Banovici, not in the Srebrenica region) was torched by "Slavic Muslims known as Bosniaks." He never mentioned that Milenko Krstic's Zvornik Brigade destroyed hundreds of Bosnian Muslim villages around Srebrenica - three years before the massacre. Denson mistakenly reported that the 1995 Srebrenica genocide was "the mass executions of unarmed 'Serbian' men and boys, acts later classified as genocide." Bryan Denson is a shame for journalism and unqualified to write factually and objectively.

Speaking of journalistic integrity, Bryan Denson never wrote about how survivors and victims of the massacre felt during this trial. He never contacted this blog or local Bosnian NGO to ask questions about Krstic's dark past. He never interviewed survivors of the Srebrenica massacre. His main focus was to promote the story invented by Krstic's defense and how nice Krstic was to put his two 'beautiful' daughters into college and make one of them (Danijela Krstic, aka Danijela Radeta) Miss Oregon. Despicable.

The fact is that Milenko Krstic of Beaverton, provided logistical support to Serb troos during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. According to information released by the Hague Tribunal, Ostoja's brother Milenko directly participated in this genocidal operation:

"On 16 July 1995, Lieutenant Colonel Vujadin Popovic, chief of of the Drina Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska, requested 500 liters of diesel fuel from the Zvornik Brigade. According to intercepted telephone conversations, unless the diesel was delivered 'the work he is doing will stop'. [*the 'work' was code for the killings operation] Just a few days before, the Bosnian Serb Army had overrun the UN ‘Safe Area’ of Srebrenica, rounded up more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and systematically executed them. The prisoners were taken to locations around Srebrenica where they were shot and buried in mass graves. The buses used to transport the men, the buses used to deport the women and children and the bulldozers used to dig the mass graves all needed a lot of fuel. Colonel Popovic’s urgent appeal was rapidly dealt with. Captain S. Milosevic issued an order to supply Popovic with the fuel. The person responsible for overseeing the delivery of the fuel to Colonel Popovic was Milenko Krstic, the Zvornik Brigade member who signed the dispatch note – the 'material list for dispatch'."

Unfortunately, the  courts in the United States refuse to deal with suspected war crimes violations, completely ignoring the United States Genocide Accountability Act. Local courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina are overburdened with too many of their own cases, so they will probably let these two dirt bags slip between the cracks. Hence, Milenko Krstic was sentenced to only one year probation in August, "the lowest federal sentence for a felony crime". His brother Ostoja is also expected to receive probation. Zeljko Boskovic has already received his 3 year probation earlier this month. You call this justice? At this point in time, there is nobody to testify against these three dirt bags, because thousands of victims are scattered in mass graves. They can't speak for themselves, so we have to speak for them.

REPORT: GOVERNMENT OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA FAILED TO PROVIDE JUSTICE AND REPARATIONS TO THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS

The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have failed to provide access to justice and reparations for thousands of victims of rape – according to a report carried out by TRIAL, the Swiss association against impunity.

"According to some sources, between 100,000 and 200,000 persons died during the conflict."

“The fact that the number of human lives lost has not been precisely determined, coupled with a feeling of apprehension among thousands of family members and communities, represents a continuation of insecurity characterised by the forcible disappearance phenomenon and prolongs the agony of family members hovering on the edge between hope and despair 18 years later,” the Report says.

Srebrenica remains thrown into garbage

The unprofessionalism of Serb authorities in exhumation and preservation of mortal remains presents challenge in identifying missing genocide victims:

"As an example it can be recalled that, in March 2010, a witness informed about the fact that mortal remains of a missing person could be located in an individual grave near Srebrenica. The remains were laying on the ground surface and they were found by Mr. Slobodan Škrba, an employee of the Republika Srpska Operative Team for Missing Persons. Mr. Škrba allegedly notified the police in Srebrenica and then, instead of waiting for the MPI and the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office and to obtain a Court’s order of exhumation, he proceeded to collect the mortal remains, putting them in a plastic bag which he subsequently handed over to the mortuary at the Srebrenica Hospital. Allegedly, when cleaning the Hospital premises, the maintenance lady unintentionally took the plastic bag with the remains and threw it into the trash. This unprofessional behaviour resulted in the permanent loss of mortal remains of a person, which will never be identified, thus depriving forever his or her relatives of their right to know the truth and to mourn and bury his mortal remains."

TRIAL submitted the report - prepared in collaboration with 11 victims’ associations - to the United Nations' Committee against Torture.
TRIAL Report on Bosnia-Herzegovina Submitted to the Committee Against Torture of the United Nations

Related:
BIRN: TRIAL, A Slap in the Face of Justice Expectations

ZVORNIK GENOCIDE: 2 SERBS GUILTY FOR 700 DEATHS

CAPTION: A Bosnian worker, a member of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) inspects and marks body remains at a mass-grave site in the remote mountain area in the village of Kamenica near the Eastern-Bosnian town of Zvornik, near Srebrenica, on Nov. 6, 2008. Kamenica mass graves are secondary mass-graves.

In May and June of 1992, some 38 months before the Srebrenica massacre, notorious Serb forces led by Gen. Ratko Mladic were busy raping Bosnian Muslim women, slaughtering Bosniak civilians, and torching Muslim villages. In the municipality of Zvornik, they slaughtered 700 Muslims - women, children, sick, wounded, and the elderly civilians - in less than 2 months. The Zvornik Genocide is part of former Bosnian Serb leaders indictment (his reduced indictment aims to speed up the trial). Radovan Karadzic is currently standing trial at the Hague.

Serbia on Monday sentenced two Serbs to 15 and 6 years each in prison for the wartime torture and killing of 700 Bosniaks in eastern Bosnia. Former local officials Branko Popovic and Branko Grujic were convicted in the deaths of civilians near the town of Zvornik in 1992.

Crimes against Bosnian Muslims in the area bordering Serbia are considered among the most brutal of the 1992-1995 Bosnia war. Serb troops, including notorious paramilitary fighters, rounded up Bosnian Muslim civilians, tortured them, then killed or expelled most in a spasm of ethnic cleansing.

The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office said it would appeal Monday's verdicts, calling the sentences "inadequate considering the responsibility of the accused, with regard to the number of victims, the mass and brutal character of the crimes."

An association of the victims' families also criticized the verdicts.

"I am speechless, in shock," Hakija Smajlovic, the group's representative told Belgrade-based B92 TV. "I could not believe that such light sentences can be handed for the killing of 700 people."

Bosnian Muslim prisoners were held in inhumane conditions, with some suffocating to death, the court said, adding the two men were guilty of aiding in the killings and doing nothing to prevent them.

It noted the two were indicted for "premeditated and synchronized" acts that also resulted in rounding up 1,642 Bosniak civilians who were either killed or forced to leave their homes.

The two were arrested in 2005, which means that Grujic has less than a year left to serve in prison. The trial is part of Serbia's efforts to deal with its wartime past as it seeks to join the European Union.

SREBRENICA (1987-1992) BY PROF. BESIM IBIŠEVIĆ

Prof. Besim Ibišević's widely acclaimed book "Srebrenica (1987-1992)" is available in Bosnian language, only. However, we obtained permission from the author to publish translated chapter of this book on our blog. Historian by profession and former Mayor of Srebrenica, Prof. Ibišević participated in early stages of negotiations and preparations for resistance. In his book, he offers painstakingly documented account of events that led to the siege of Srebrenica and fall of predominantly Bosniak-inhabited central Podrinje.

CHAPTER: "Thursday, 16 April 1992" describes situation in Srebrenica two days before the beginning of war and the town's first fall.

The town was so empty. The telephone on my desk rang from time to time but instead of unexpected or important news all I could hear were anonymous threats, abuses and warnings. They swore at my balija  [= derogatory term for Muslim] mother, at my peasant mother; they asked me "Are you still here?" and "Haven't you gone yet?" They told me they had their guns trained at me, others warned me to take care where I sat in my office. One thing was certain, I was threatened both by the bloodthirsty Serbs and by the nationally confused and power-hungry Bosniaks.

I was to go to the SDS [Serbian Democratic Party] and SDA [Bosniak Party for Democratic Action] meeting in Bratunac. Whom could I invite to come with me? lbran Mustafić  had not returned from. Sarajevo for ten days, Hamed Efendić and Hamed Salihović - Sado were in Potočari but out of touch. I tried to find them by telephone but failed to do so and so I told the Municipal Assembly secretary that the two of us would go. Mesud suggested it might be a good idea to take Sabit Begić, an SDP [Social Democratic Party] member in the Municipal Assembly. I agreed because Sabit was a communist and would be useful in negotiations with the Serbs in Bratunac. Our official driver Irfan Jukić - Juka had fled from the town taking the car keys with him. Dževad solved that small problem and acted as our driver. During the severe intra-Bosniak strife in town he was one of the few level-headed men appealing to everybody to stay calm. That day he was both our driver and a member of the Bosniak delegation at the negotiations in Bratunac. We were met at Hotel Fontana by Goran Zekić, Miodrag Jokić - Žmigo and Miroslav Deronjić - Miro.

Mesud and I were glad to let Sabit speak, he craftily avoided the most difficult answers and asked the Serbs to help us with food. He said many people in the municipality were starving and the Serbs should help with food if they were indeed well-disposed. Road communications with the majority of Bosniak villages were cut by Serb barricades and checkpoints. The town was full of refugees from Bijeljina and Zvornik that had fled to Srebrenica fearing Serb atrocities. Goran promised to send several lorries with flour and other supplies from war reserves. He left the meeting briefly to telephone somebody to prepare the shipment of aid for Srebrenica. Bosniaks had been withdrawing for days from the valley to the mountain area: to Osmaći, Karačići, Sućeska and Luka. If we got any food it should go to those villages. We left all the political issues for some other time, we could not represent the Party properly. Sabit avoided the gravest problems and spoke as only as a humanitarian: "Thousands are starving in Luka while you wise men of SDA and SDS play your games! Leave that for later and let us save those hungry people! You Serbs, show your goodwill and send them food, the Bosniak people will certainly appreciate it." Before we parted, we agreed to meet the next day in Srebrenica to continue our negotiations. We planned to meet at 10 a.m. in my office. As soon as we reached Srebrenica I despatched several drivers with lorries to go and get the promised food. As I had feared,, we got nothing. Reaching the outskirts of Bratunac, the drivers were ordered to turn their vehicles around and go back.

Volunteers from Serbia dressed in camouflage JNA [Yugoslav People's Army] uniformes were seen at Jezero that day. Two dead bodies were found by the road Skeljani - Srebrenica at Vitez. They were bodies of Meho Hrvačić and Bahrudin Osmanović from Potočari. The two of them had gone to Bajina Bašta [in Serbia] the day before to get some petrol to fill their car and spare canisters. Once they got the petrol they turned back for Potočari, taking the road through Skeljani and Jezero, shorter than the road through Ljubovija. In the afternoon, villagers of Regašići and Dobrak saw a loffy full, of Chetniks going to Jezero. It was the Chetnik group from Skeljani led by Milenko Čanić and Vladislav Maksimović - Buco heading for the post-office building at Kragljivoda where they hoped to find Ahmo Tihić and his armed men. The Chetniks did not know that the armed Bosniak unit had left Kragljivoda three days earlier, crossed over to Osat and then disbanded. Believing the armed Bosniaks to be stationed in the post-office building, the Chetniks mounted a frontal attack. Once they had riddled the building with their bullets they finally realised it was empty. They went back angry and when they met a car with two Bosniaks they stopped the car and checked the two men. Their Bosniak names and birthplaces on their papers were provocation enough for he Chetniks to kill the two men and mutilate their bodies. As it was already dark, nobody noticed the two bodies until the next day. Cruel murder of two innocent men was meant to terrify the Bosniaks and announce the genocide that followed. Those were the first Bosniak victims in the municipality of Srebrenica, at the very outset of Serbian military aggression.

Goran Zekić rang me up asking to meet the Head of the Public Security Service in my office. The SDS chairman wanted to legitimise 'wild' Serb checkpoints in Sase, Bibići and Vihogor. It took me some time to locate Hamed Salihović  - Sado and instruct him to come with his men immediately to the Municipal Hall. The SDS chairman brought the Serb delegation but we had to wait for almost two hours for the Head of the Public Security Service. Mesud Mustafić, and I were representing the municipal authorities and Sabit Begić was there to speed the negotiations up. Hamed led the Public Security Service men Tajib Mustafić, Alija Hasić and Milum Perendić; Goran led the Serbs Momčilo Cvjetinović and Momir Milovanović. There was nobody to type the Agreement and we had no typing supplies so Sabit wrote the two copies of the agreement in longhand, using a sheet of carbon paper. Although the title said Agreement of the Commission for Territorial Division it was not exactly the case. The Agreement was reached by the SD chairman and the Head of the Public Security Service, neither of them a member of the Commission for implementation of the Decision on Territorial Division. We, the other participants, also affixed our signatures to the Agreement thus making it more official. Only four of the ten signatories actually were members of the Commission for implementation of the Decision on Territorial Division. The Agreement between the Head of the Public Security Service and the representatives of the Serbs read as follows:

1. "Militia of the Serb people in Srebrenica is to be established; the seat of the Militia shall be in Srebrenica and there shall be three outlying police stations, one each in the villages of Vijogor, Orahovica and Sase.
2. In order to ensure free traffic of people, goods and communications, full cooperation and coordination shall be established with the Srebrenica Public Security Service.
3. Negotiations shall proceed to ensure further organisational set up of services and to ensure unhampered life."

The Agreement was signed by Besim Ibišević, Goran Zekić, Sabit Begić, Momir Milovanović, Momčilo Cvjetinović, Mesud Mustafić, Alija Hasić, Tajib Mustafić, Milun Perendić  and Hamed Salihović - Sado. Once the Agreement was signed, the SDS leader said the Serb militia had no need for the Public Security Service weapons, they had more than enough of their own. The Serbs needed the Agreement to legalise the already existing road checkpoints and to avoid any open confrontation with the Public Security Service. In other words, the Serbs were buying time. Sabit handed one copy of the Agreement to me and the other to Goran. The Bosniaks accepted the actual status and did not want to be the first to commence open hostilities.

Leaders of the Srebrenica SDA had left the town for their native villages or other destinations. Some of them could reach the town but did not want to because they had no wish to take any responsibility. The only one of the twenty four members of the SDA Executive Committee that I sometimes met at that time was Hamed Salihović - Sado. Our people were leaving for Tuzla every day. Would anybody stay to defend the town? Night raids and shooting were getting closer to the town every day. You could not tell who was shooting, guards were abandoning their posts.

After a night  of shooting from Bojna, I moved over to Dzevad Halilović's  house with my wife and child. With only one handgun and one cartridge of bullets, I spent the night riddled with anxiety and uncertainty. There was nobody to guard the town! What armed men the Bosniaks had were inside the town, most of, them gathered around their own houses. Few men were willing to go out of the town to defend the access roads. Inside the town, people feared the night, waiting for the dawn to come.

General consensus was that the Chetnik attacks came at night. The night belonged to them, the day to us. People were afraid of the falling darkness and greeted every new day with hope and optimism. The Sun was on our side, chasing the darkness and the Chetniks away.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS - PIONIRSKA STREET AND BIKAVAC MASSACRE MONUMENTS

The Pionirska Street and Bikavac Massacres Memorial Committee therefore wish to invite proposals from which architectural designs for two monuments will be chosen.

Judge Patrick Robinson, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, passing sentence on two of the prime culprits, observed that:

“In the all too long, sad and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the Pionirska Street and Bikavac fires must rank high. At the close of the twentieth century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality of herding, trapping and locking the victims in the two houses, thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were burnt alive.”

The two massacres, in which nearly 150 Bosniak civilians – women, children and elderly – were burned alive by Bosnian Serb Army soldiers, took place in June 1992 in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad.

The few survivors and relatives of the victims are anxious to have memorial monuments erected at the two localities to honour the memory of those who perished and to serve as a reminder to future generations.

Image: The house of Adem Omeragic in Pionirska Street where around 70 Bosniak civilians were burned alive by Bosnian Serb soldiers.

Image: The area where Meho Aljic’s house on Bikavac used to stand. Around 70 Bosniak civilians were burned alive by Bosnian Serb soldiers. The house was later bulldozed and evidence destroyed.

The Pionirska Street and Bikavac Massacres Memorial Committee therefore wish to invite proposals from which architectural designs for two monuments will be chosen.

The monuments will be respectful, simple, robust and appropriate to their site. The Committee has no revenues of its own and in the absence of external funds the monuments project is being proposed as a public interest scheme.

Interested applicants should bear this in mind and submit their designs on a pro bono publico basis, in the anticipation that no fee or expenses will be paid. It is hoped that the memorial monuments will be in place ahead of the twentieth anniversary commemoration events in 2012.

For general background information and details of the Committee’s specific requirements, architects interested in contributing to the remembrance of these two terrible crimes should initially contact

visegradgenocide(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Visegrad Genocide Memories Blog

More:
- Bikavac revisited 27.06.2010
- Visegrad, memory and justice
- Visegrad: Remembering the Bikavac fire massacre

JEWS FOUGHT IN THE BOSNIAN ARMY, SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE MUSLIMS

The following article was first published on 5 September 1992 by Kentucky New Area newspapers. Posted with permission.

SARAJEVO JEWS -- Zoya Finci (left) and Predrag Papo (right) inspect a prayer shawl at the Jewish Community Center in Sarajevo. The remaining 1,000 members of the Jewish community remaining in the besieged Bosnian capital now conduct prayer services at their homes after shutting down their synagogue which was shelled by Serbian artillery.

With Bosnian war raging, Jewish group celebrates life

By John Pomfret

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- On a ping-pong table in a cluttered room next to a synagogue, Zoya Finci works to restore ancient parchments - Hebrew scripts telling the story of the exodus of Jews from the Holy Lands. A dab of acetone here, a swab of alcohol there.

Despite the crash of mortars and heavy machine-gun fire outside, Finci is preparing for an exhibition. With an almost heroic obstinacy, the Jews of Sarajevo are planning to celebrate their 500 years in the city.

"It only comes once every 500 years," said the middle-age University of Sarajevo art professor, whose family has lived in Sarajevo for four centuries.

"We can't postpone it. We have to celebrate it despite the bloodshed."

About 1,000 Jews are left from an original population of 1,600. About 600 women, children and elderly have been evacuated since the war for control of Bosnia-Herzegovina began between the mainly Muslim government and the self-proclaimed Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Some went to Israel, others to Austria and Italy. Spain, where 95 percent of the Sephardic Jews in Sarajevo trace their roots, took 50 families.

Ivan Ceresnjes, 47, the president of the Jewish community, said only a few more Jews want to leave.

"The rest will stay in Sarajevo," he said. "We are Bosnians first."

Jews are fighting in the Bosnian army - side by side with Muslims. They are in the police force and work in civil defense, he said. The Jewish graveyard, with tombs dating to the 16th century, is a Serbian stronghold. Serb militiamen have placed a heavy machine-gun in its chapel.

The tribulations of Ceresnjes' family highlights the sometimes colorful, often tragic history of the Jews in this part of the world.

Expelled from Spain during the Inquisition, the first Jews came to to the hard scrabble country around Sarajevo in September 1492 -- the year Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. Records kept in the city say the first Jews arrived on Sept. 11, the date this year's exhibition begins.

Boats from the Ottoman Empire -- which saved Jews and Arabs alike from the religious suppression launched by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain -- brought them to the Balkans.

In recognition, they invited Turkish President Turgut Ozal to the exhibition.

"I don't think he'll come," Finci said with a sigh, as another mortar shell landed nearby.

Ceresnjes' father, Alexander, returned to Spain during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s to join Communist forces. In World War II, he was interned in France. He escaped, volunteering for the British 8th Army for the liberation of Italy.

There he met his wife, a psychological operations officer with the British and also a Sephardic Jew.

They married. She became pregnant. Alexander Ceresnjes went to Hungary after liberation and she returned to Sarajevo, where Ceresnjes was born.

Alexander ceresnjes became the minister of information for the Hungarian government; in 1948, he was jailed for eight years in a Soviet prison camp for opposing the Soviet takeover in Budapest. He died later in Hungary.

"For the last 400 years, none of my family has died in Sarajevo," Ceresnjes said. It is a classical Jewish tale. We are from this place but cannot die here."

Jakob Finci's family, a distant relative of Zoya's, followed another path. for the past 500 years, all his relatives have been born or died in Sarajevo - except him.

He was born in a concentration camp run by the pro-Nazi Ustasha militia in Croatia in 1943. Now, he is a lawyer and vice president of the Jewish community's Educational and Humanitarian Society.

Spanish traditions died hard among the Jews of Sarajevo. They pray in Castilian Spanish, greet each other with "Buenos dias" and pick Iberian names for their children, such as Estella and Juan.

For now, no synagogue remains in Sarajevo. Three rocket attacks forced the community to remove the torah and holy books from the Arc - the room where they were kept - stripping it of its religious nature.

NASER ORIC BLAMES BOSNIAK LEADERSHIP FOR ABANDONING PEOPLE OF SREBRENICA

"In view of all that has happened, majority of Bosniak 
intellectuals deserve to be blamed." - Naser Orić

PHOTO: Naser Oric in Konjevic Polje near Srebrenica on 11 March 1993.

EXCLUSIVE: Due to popular demand from our English-speaking readers, we translated the entire chapter from Naser Oric's book, which was written while he was in charge of defending the besieged enclave of Srebrenica. The translated Chapter, entitled: "Assessment and Attitude of the Republic and Local Authorities on the Imminent Danger of Serbian Aggression and Organization of Possible Resistance" can be found in Oric's book "Srebrenica Testifies and Accuses: Genocide of Bosniaks in Eastern Bosnia (Central Drina Region) April 1992 - September 1994" on pages 15-21. (Posted with Permission)

* * *

It is very difficult to evaluate and judge the responsibility of the Bosniak members of the goveming bodies of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the preparations and implementation of armed resistance.

The evaluation should be left for some other times and the historians should be the ones to judge. But the one certain thing - at least in this region - is the absence of any representatives or bodies either of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) or of any other body or authority of the Republic.

The SDS [Serbian Democratic Party) leaders, in cahoots with the authorities and intelligence services of the former JNA [Yugoslav People's Army] and with other services in Serbia and Montenegro, were busily instilling terror among the Muslims. Instigating war psychosis and insinuating their spies into the SDA bodies and authorities, they monitored and spied on people. Many Bosniaks collaborated with the Serbs, some knowingly others unwittingly. A chaotic situation was fomented in all segments of public life; in companies, in institutions.

Several examples and incidents illustrate that the authorities, both on the Republic and on the local level, were incapable of maintaining constitutionality and legality. Serbs from the village of Podravanje blocked off the bauxite mine in Srebrenica and the mine did not operate for three months before the war broke out. Serbs from the villages of Polom and Kravica, municipality of Bratunac, blocked off the Forest Company 'Drina' in Srebrenica and chased away the lumberjacks from the woods alleging that the woods belonged to the Serbs, although the woods were actually owned by the state. There were many similar examples in easter  Bosnia and many a company had to send their employees off on unpaid leave. Not to mention the fact that all the supplies of raw materials, secondary materials and food from Serbia were cut off. In most cases, local municipal authorities were unable and incapable of getting to grips with problems of such magnitude. Quite a few individuals grabbed power and took some job in order to promote their personal careers and, so God help me, quite a few did it for personal gain and quickly gained wealth.

In view of all that has happened, majority of Bosniak  intellectuals deserve to be blamed. Most of them were ashamed to join the SDA and to use their knowledge and their organizational skills to help organize and unify the Bosniak people against the onset of darkness and occupation that were threatening from Serbia and Montenegro. They rather joined various pro-Serb parties and so directly contributed to the advancing Serb hegemonism.

On the other hand the Serbs - be they peasants or scientists - were not ashamed to publicly join the SDS; some of them were even sent to join other pro-Serb parties and so lure away the Bosniak intellectuals, as was mostly the case in the majority of municipalities in easter Bosnia.

We now know that the local authorities, particularly the SDA leaders, were mostly preoccupied with the  black market in armaments and other vital commodities, whereas they should have been preparing, training and organizing their people for the resistance to the aggressor.

To be honest, certain preparations had been done in some municipalities but only just before the war and so covertly, as a sort of military secret, that very few people knew about it. In fact, while such preparations should have been put into practice the leaders, that group of people who held all the strings, fled across the border to enjoy their fat accounts in some foreign bank.

As a result, the people were bereft of their 'leaders' and - once occupied by the Serbian-Montenegrin aggressors - the Bosniaks en masse surrendered their arms, to a greater or lesser extent. The worst of all cases happened in Vlasenica, where some 2.000 firearms were handed over to the enemy.

As for the Bosniak  leaders in Srebrenica, they were irresponsible and indifferent to the events in the eve of the war and enemy occupation, just like all the local leaders in other places.

Instead of organizing resistance to save the Muslim people from annihilation, many of them (with some honourable exceptions) packed their bags and took themselves and their families off to safety. To illustrate my point, I shall list but a few and shall leave to the people to judge them in some better times.

Civil servants and prominent intellectuals who left Srebrenica:

1. Besim Ibisevic,, Chairman of the Municipal Assembly of Srebrenica, gone abroad;

2. Cazim Salimovic, Secretary for Economy; gone abroad;

3. Nurija Porobic, Secretary for Defence, gone to Tuzla;

4. Mesud Mustafic, Secretary to the Municipal Assembly of Srebrenica,

5. Sadik Begic, general manager of Zeleni Jadar Company and Member of the B&H Assembly, gone abroad;

6. Ibran Mustafic, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Municipal Assembly

of Srebrenica, gone to Sarajevo;

7. Hajrudin Halilovic, President of the Basic Court, gone to Tuzla;

8. Sabit Begic, director of Medical centre, gone to Sarajevo;

9. Nedzad Selmanagic, long time high ranking municipal executive, gone to Sarajevo;

10. Hasan Selmanagic, executive of the Lead and Zinc Mine, gone to Sarajevo;

11. Abdulah Ahmic, general manager of Lead and Zinc Mine, gone to Sarajevo;

12. Sead Dzanic, general manager of Drina Company, gone to Tuzla;

13. Enver Nekic, general manager of Remont Company, gone abroad;

14. Salih Sirucic, M.Sc. in physics, active in SDA, gone abroad;

15. Adib Djozic, M.L., general manager of Kamen Company, gone to Tuzla;

16. Mujo Muratovic, general manager of Transport Company, gone to Tuzla;

as well as many other managers, executives, prominent citizens and intellectuals who left Srebrenica.

The same thing happened in other municipalities in East Bosnia; leading citizens of Vlasenica, Zvomik, Bratunac fled with their families to protect them from the shells, bombs and Chetnik uniforms.

They cherished their asses and hid them in Germany, Holland, Sweden, in who knows which country, to 'pine' there for their Bosnian homeland and to write in their letters that "a piece of Bosnian air is better than all the riches abroad".

As far as I know, the following executives of other municipalities had fled and left their people to the brutality of Chetnik hordes:

1 . Nijaz Dubicic,, Chairman of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

2. Senad Hodzic, Chief of Police in Bratunac, gone to Tuzia;

3. Arif Aljic, acting Police Commander in Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

4. Dzevad Gusic, SDA Chairman for Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

5. Mustafa Ekber Djozic, Member of the BH Assembly, gone to Sarajevo;

6. Bahret Kustura, lawyer, member of the SDA executive committee in Bratunac, work inspector of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac gone abroad;

7. Nurija Dzanic, chairman of the Club, SDA Member of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

8. Semso Durakovic, grad.civil engineer, Member of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, active in the SDA in Bratunac, gone abroad;

9. Omer Mujic, Member of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, active in the SDA Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

10. Adil Osmanovic, Member of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, active in the SDA in Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

11. Azem Dzanic, deputy chairman of the SDA in Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

12. Mujo Mujcic, general manager of Kaolin Company, chairman of the Opposition Parties Club of the Municipal Assembly of Bratunac, gone to Tuzla and later abroad;

13. Safet Dzanic, veterinary surgeon, director of the Veterinary Centre, member of the SDA executive committee in Bratunac, gone to Macedonia;

14. Nezir Muratovic, active in the SDA in Bratunac, gone to Tuzla;

15. Hasib Hasanovic, secondary school principal, gone to Tuzla and later abroad.

Vlasenica:

1. Izet Redzic, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Municipal Assembly of Vlasenica, gone to Tuzla;

2. Mustafa Imamovic, chairman of the SDA Town Committee, commander of the Municipal Crisis Staff, gone to Tuzla;

3. Amir Telalovic, party chairman, gone to Bihac;

4. Dr. Hasan Dzana, neurologist-psychiatrist, former party chairman, gone to Sarajevo;

5. Suljo Kurtagic, former Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Municipal Assembly of Vlasenica, stayed in executive position, gone abroad;

6. Mehmed Kavazbasic, Member in the BH Assembly, gone to Zagreb;

7. Irfan Tihic,, executive of the Elastik Company, gone abroad;

8. Munib Becirovic, member of the SDA executive committee in Vlasenica, chairman of the SDA Club, gone to Sarajevo;

9. Ferid Hodzic,, Head of the Territorial Defence in Vlasenica, stayed in Cerska but later gone to Tuzla;

10. Muhamed Huseinovic, grad. engineer from Nova Kasaba, gone abroad;

11. Rizvan Cizmic, engineer from Nova Kasaba, gone abroad;

12. Muradif Hrsic, engineer from Nova Kasaba, gone abroad;

13. Mensur Topcic, deputy public prosecutor, gone to Tuzla.

The chaotic state of the people of eastern Bosnia is best illustrated by the situation in Srebrenica a few days before the aggressor occupation:

On 12 April 1992, the inhabitants of Srebrenica were apprehensively expecting what was going to happen since the SDS had offered to the SDA to divide the Srebrenica municipality into a Serb and a Bosniak municipality.

Goran Zekic, a local SDS leader, maintained that the policy of the Serb centre in Pale was that the Serbs should obey only the laws of their self-proclaimed Serb Republic and that the Serbs in Bosnia could live together only with their brother Serbs from Serbia.

Despite everything, the SDA leaders in Srebrenica agreed with the division of their municipality, provided the members of the Municipal Assembly approved the division. The Municipal Assembly was to convene on 13 April 1992.

The news spread quickly throughout the territory of Srebrenica municipality and a mass of people gathered to hear the decision of the Assembly. The SDS members of the Assembly (Serbs) demanded that a  'Serb municipality'  of Skelani [*Skelani is predominantly Bosniak town] be carved out of the municipal territory of Srebrenica first, and the rest of the territory (including the town of Srebrenica) be divided into a Serb municipality and a Bosniak  municipality.

The SDA members of the Assembly agreed with the SDS request and the task groups were appointed to map out the decision. The people that had gathered outside the Culture Hall applauded their approval, finding this solution preferable to war.

The same day, 13 April 1992, the SDA task group arrived at the place where they were to meet the SDS task group but the Serbs failed to appear. They did not come eithr on the 14, 15 or 16 April 1992, and the people started leving Srebrenica by any available means - private cars, busses, trucks. On 17 April 1992, the Bratunac SDS requested by telephone that representatives of Srebrenica Bosniaks  come to Hotel Fontana in Bratunac for negotiations. Dr. Sabit Begic went to Bratunac as the Bosniak  representative and found Bratunac streets full of tanks, armed personnel carriers and many uniformed JNA soldiers and freshly mobilized local Serbs.

Instead of greetings, the Bosniaks  were met in Hotel Fontana by the ultimatum to hand over all the Muslim-owned weapons by 8 a.m. the next day, 18 April 1992, and were told that no division of Srebrenica municipality was forthcoming since Srebrenica belonged to the Serbs.

Upon their return to Srebrenica, the Bosniak  delegation - instead of trying to calm down the spirits - informed the people of all that the Serbs had demanded. The people panicked and fled from Srebrenica in many directions: to Tuzla, Kladanj, Sarajevo, abroad, anywhere. Having informed the people, the Bosniak  delegation went  to Lovac restaurant to request that Hakija Meholjic and late Akif Ustic, hand over the weapons (the two of them had already organized a defence group of about a hundred young men from Srebrenica). The request was denied and the delegation also got together their family and left Srebrenica. Of the 8.000-odd inhabitants that had lived in Srebrenica before the war - and more than 5.000 of them were Muslims - less than 400 remained in the town, the villages excluded.

I refrain from adding my comments on all these events and leave it to the reader to judge and comment. The one thing that I am certain of is the fact that the people who stayed in Srebrenica heroically resisted the aggressor, together with the people from Cerska, Konjevic-Polje and Zepa. Had it not been the case, who could tell what would have been the fate of the Muslims of eastern Bosnia and the fate of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina.