Piše: Ibrahim Kajan
Whoever destroys an innocent life is in Gods eyes
like one who destroys all humankind. And whoever saves a life
is like one who has saved all humankind.
- THE QUR'AN, V.32
A:D THEN THERE is genocide, an innocent word of terrible meaning. To destroy the foundation of a person's existence; to destroy the very seed (the "gene") of a nation; to exterminate that which is "not mine and does not want to be mine"-this is the simplest and most precise definition of the word.
At its third session on December 9, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. The states that signed this document affirmed that genocide was an international crime which they are obliged to prevent and punish with the full force of international law whether it occurs in the midst of a war between states or within a single state. The Convention considers the crime of genocide "any act committed with the intention to destroy partially or completely a national, ethnic, religious or racial group." It also states that it is a crime to kill members of a group or to inflict grave injury upon the physical existence or integrity of a group. The "intentional subjugation of a group by means aimed at its complete or partial destruction" is genocide. This includes acts where the goal is to prevent births within a particular group or to forcibly transfer children &om one group to another.
Vladimir Dedijer, the president of the Russell Tribunal, has noted that there are many shortcomings in the United Nations Convention on Genocide. These flaws have become evident in the era of "new methods" reflecting the dark side of "developed humanism." For example, Dedijer notes that cultural genocide is not considered in the Convention, and finds it curious that "all the great powers were against condemning this form of genocide."1)
The terrible events in Bosnia have presented the world with one more variant of a war crime which in its systematic method of execution has no precedent. This new dimension is the organized rape of young girls and women which has taken place in Bosnia over the past year. :f:urope has stood paralyzed before a form of evil which emerged from the borders of its classical Greek and Christian heritage. Sartre reminded us that "genocides happened both before and after the promulgation of the Convention."2) Yet, for the sake of law, any future revision of the Convention must incorporate these new forms of genocidal activity and codify them as crimes.
In every crime the intent is primary. This is also true where it concerns genocide. Horrific mass murders may still not be considered an act of genocide, if the principal motive is not the destruction of a nation, an ethnic group, or a religion. There exists clear and unambiguous evidence that the violence carried out against the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina represents a process of systematic and intentional genocide. Furthermore, the evidence can be clearly documented.
In the period immediately prior to the 1992 referendum in which the citizens of Bosnia-Hercegovina voted on the question of a sovereign, united, and independent state for them, Dr. Radovan Karadzic, the president of the Serbian Democratic Party (50S), stated publicly: "If Bosnia and Hercegovina do not remain in Yugoslavia, then one nation will disappear!" Karadzic's statement was carried widely in the press. He made clear in this statement his intent to destroy another nation. From Sarajevo, Alija Izetbegovic replied: "There will be no war in Bosnia and Hercegovina. It takes two sides for war."
The Bosnian Muslims did not want war. Even when the massacres began, people thought it would not move beyond the neighboring village. They said to themselves, "It will not happen here. It will stop there." But Karadzic's Serbs did not stop. Many of those who ended up in the concentration camps had thought the terror would stop before it reached their villages or homes.
Although barely a year has passed, it is time to present some of the evidence we have in our possession of known crimes. The first public report against the terror that was to engulf Bosnia-Hercegovina had come in an unnoticed bulletin published by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which is led by President of Bosnia, Alija Izetbegovic.
BIJEL]INA, APRIL 6, 1992: Except for three members of the Executive Committee of the SDA of Bijeljini, 'everyone else [in the party leadership] was killed. The worst sh,ootirig and most of the killings were carried out in the Great Park in front of the Atija mosque in Bijeljina. As people were coming out of the mosque after evening prayers, the Arkanovci immediately slaughtered two men and then fired on the others, killing them. In panic, people turned back and fled into the mosque. Then the Arkanovci threw bombs into the mosque, killing everyone inside. After this the Arkanovci entered the mosque and committed a loathsome deed: they relieved themselves on the corpses. Following this massacre, forty thousand Muslims fled from Bijeljina and Janja to Tuzla.3)
This report has been confirmed in several accounts by refugees who fled Bijeljina. The reports are clear that Muslims were killed in groups. Specifically, Muslim leaders who were intellectuals or professionals were selected for early death as priority targets. There were acts of mutilation and desecration against the dead. The systematic destruction of mosques became an integral part of the campaign by Serbian forces. The cultural heritage of the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina became a target. Furthermore, general panic was intentionally organized through the exercise of systematic terror in order to create a mass exodus.
We have collected testimonies from the first refugees. Most of them are peasants driven out of largely Muslim villages and towns. They are civilians. They were virtually scraped off the surface of the earth they lived upon. For example, the town of Vlasenica and its surrounding region was a predominantly Muslim area that has been swept bare by the iron broom of "ethnic cleansing." Those who were left behind in the panic were packed into camps and their property was stolen.
A selection of the many personal testimonies gathered in the past year are presented here in order that the reader can reflect on whether or not the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide has, in fact, been violated.
I
A REFUGEE FROM ZVORNIK
ON APRIL 6, 1992, members of the SOS put up barricades in Meterize. They were first raised at nine thirty in the evening. The workers who normally work in the Karakaj area were unable to go to work that evening. The next day when I went into the street I noticed that the local Serbs were packing up their belongings and hurriedly moving out of the area. The Muslim community grew uneasy and on that day the Crisis Headquarters of Zvornik was formed. We heard that the city would be artacked if the demands of the SDS were not met.
On the morning of April 8 small-arms fire could be heard from the barricades. The shooting continued until mid-day when an artillery shell was fired on the city. Once the artillery opened up people started to flee toward Kula-Grad.4) As they ran, snipers from the Serbian side of the Drina at Krecani began shooting at the terrified civilians. This was only the beginning. Tank units of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) began firing upon the city. Shells fired by the JNA fell on the town throughout the night of April 8-9. At least four to five thousand people from Zvornik fled toward Kula-Grad. The snipers killed people as they fled with their families. Our own neighbor, Suad Mehmedovic was wounded in this manner. The son of Džemal Music Rokan, was shot in the chest and died.
As we fled to Kula-Grad, I observed a group of twenty-five Chetniks move into the city as they crossed at the hydroelectric dam. This was near to the settlement known as Hrid. According to eyewitnesses with whom I spoke many crimes were committed there. I personally saw Safet and Hajra, two workers at the local gas station, lying dead on the ground. Amir, who we called "The Musician," was also killed.
I know they killed children in Tabaci. Among the dead was Sabit, a local driver, his wife, and two sons. They ordered my neighbor, Rama, to shoot several civilians. When he refused, they killed him.5)
II
A REFUGEE FROM FOCA
DURING THE BATTLE of Foča most of the Muslims were gathered in the section of the town known as Donje Polje. There was a Serbian sniper position above the barbershop. At one point Rade Elez called upon the Muslims in the fishermen's section of town to surrender. He used the megaphone on top of the tavern known as the Fisherman's Restaurant. A number of people surrendered and when they did the Chetniks lined them up and drove them into Foca's prison. The son of Asim Gogalija, whom I knew, was among the prisoners. After three or four days of fighting Foca fell.
It was then that I heard the Chetniks took the Isanovic family for a "medical examination" and when they reached the hospital they killed them. Durak Saban was staying with us in our house at this time. When there was a lull in the battle he would go out and gather up people's belongings so they would not be lost. It is for this reason that Milanovic, the police official from Gradinic who lived beside the dam at Gornje Polje, had Saban hauled off to the prison. Saban had seen how the Chetniks were looting people's homes. He had also seen how Asim Hadžiahmetovic's store had been looted. Hadziahmetovic had already fled.
I saw how twenty Chemiks crossed the meadow above the prison and set Hadžiahmetovic's house on fire. This was the beginning of the burning of Muslim Foča. I watched as they burned Hasan Pilav's apartment. He was the director of the sawmill. I saw them burn the houses of many Muslims in Aladža and Donje Polje. When Radio Foča fell into Serbian hands, Velibor Ostojic declared over the radio that the township of Foča was Serbian. He said that Muslims would no longer be permitted to live in Foča. And he added that every Serbian woman would have to bear seven children.
I also saw three young Serbian men break into and rob the apartment of Reuf Tafra, the director of Foča's medical center. I heard that during their first attack the Chemiks killed ten young Muslim men from the families of Djuderija, Silajdžić, and Vojević. They were all from the village of Susješno. The Chemiks claimed they had killed ten Ustaša, not ten Muslims. Using the Fisherman's Restaurant as their base, Serbian snipers killed people throughout the Surkovac area. Mter one Serb was shot they took revenge on the entire area.
They set fire to the Emperor's Mosque and danced the kolo. They sang, "Well, men, shall we build a church in the center of Foca!"6)
III
A REFUGEE FROM THE VILLAGE OF KOSMAN
THE VILLAGE OF KOSMAN is an hour's walk from the village of Perovići. A Chetnik group led by Ratomir Mastilović took twelve people away from our village. Mastilović's unit included Tihomir Aćimović, Zeljko Majdov, Radmilo and Sreta Mijović, Luka Tomović, Zdravko and Milenko Pavlović, Mile Majdov, Djoko Vuković, and Ljubo Kavocević. The people they abducted were from the Lagarija family. This included Nazif, Abida, Salih, Fadil, Semso, Ibro, Ekrem, and Serif From the Vejo family they abducted Fehim, Hasib, and Nermin. They also took away the Albanian called Halim. None of these people came back.
The same Chetnik group crammed a large group from our village into Meca Deleuta's house. I know that from the Deleuta family there was Mesa, Latif, Umija, Safet, Musan, and Mulija. Salima and Pasa from the Vejo family and Saba and Semso from the Lagarija family were among those pushed into the house. The Chetniks doused the house with gasoline and burned everyone alive. Everyone was burned to death. After this the Chetniks set the entire village of Kosman on fire and burned it to the ground. They drove off all the live-stock. It was May 4, 1992, when all of this happened.7)
IV
A REFUGEE FROM THE VILLAGE OF JELEC
EVER SINCE THE MUSLIM HOLIDAY of Bajram our life has become a nightmare. It all began on April 4, 1992, when the first shots rang through our village and Chetniks from the Serbian village of Vodice began shelling us incessantly. The villagers hid in the canyon of the Bistrice river. We had already prepared some shelters. These were small huts about a meter high built from stones and covered with boards. The shelling of the village lasted about three days and fourteen Muslim houses were destroyed. When the shelling stopped the Chetnik infantry entered the village and began killing people. They targeted men, women, and children.
They killed my husband and his brothers Omer, Asim, Mustafa, and Zulfo. These were all the sons of Jusuf. Our relatives and their sons were also killed. There was Hakija Srnja, son of Sućro; Hajika's son Enver Srnja; Zulfo's son Evledin Srnja; Asim's son Nedžad Srnja; and Edhem Sljivo, the son of lbro. All these people were shot. Five days after they were killed, survivors from our village were able to bury their corpses during the night. They are buried at the scene of the crime, beside the Krupice river, near Zulfo and Hakija's house.
I know the Chetniks also killed the following people: Osman Zametica, Jusuf Džinic and his wife, Mustafa Tuzlak, an Albanian called Nasuf whose corpse was terribly mutilated, Edhem and his wife Fata and one daughter, Uzeir Hadžic and his son Enver and daughter-in-law Jelena, and Haso Hadžic. They were all killed in Hamdo Hadžic's weekend house. They are buried now beside the house.
I saw who committed these crimes. They were our Serb neighbors who were teachers from the elementary school in Jelec. All were members of the SDS. Particularly prominent among them were the Chetnik leaders Zoran Miljanovic and Pero Elez from Miljevina.8)
V
A REFUGEE FROM THE VIUAGE OF Kosovo POLJE
THE CHE1NIKS CAME into the village on June 3, 1992. It was not hard to recognize them with the badges on their caps. They went into my brother Sefket's house. They began kicking his wife Fatima. They demanded money and all her jewelry. My sister-in-law brought them what they wanted. They then locked her up in the house and raped her. After they had finished they set the house on fire with Fatima in it. The remains of her hair and bones were found.
On the same day they burned down the house of Hakija Kos. They then burned down my father Abid Jamak's house and slaughtered him. They began their genocidal work in Kosovo Polje at ten o'clock at night. They had warned the villagers that they should move out of their houses by the morning. With megaphones they ordered everyone to hand over their arms and bring their cars to the crossroads. If they did not do so, they were told that their houses would be burned to the ground. My father did not want to follow their orders to abandon his home. Milan Lukic is among the most infamous of the Chetnik leaders who came to Kosovo Polje. He, among others, is responsible for these criminal acts. It was Lukić who sang the Chetnik song, "Muslims, you yellow ants, your days are numbered."9)
VI
A REFUGEE FROM THE VILLAGE OF ZLATNIK
ON MAY 27, 1992, the Chetniks surrounded the house of Islam Kustura in the village of Zlatnik near Dobrun. They drove the people out of the house to a stream which was three hundred meters away. They took everyone's identity cards and burned them. Nikola Kavačević and his two sons, Petar and Budimar, killed my brother Ahmet Mutapcic, who was twenty-one, and my brother Ibra Kustura, who was twenty-seven. Their corpses were then mutilated by those who murdered them. My father watched all this. Afterwards they drove him into the woods toward the village of Boglice.
Milos Sikirić was among these criminals. The Chetniks' headquarters were located at his house. The Chemiks looted and burned the Muslim villages of Zlatnik, Turjak, and Zanožje. Everyone who could fled these villages to save their lives. In Zanožje I know they killed Nezir Kasapović. They burned him in his stable. At the end of May they also burned down the village of Smriječje. In one incident six women were burned alive in one house. The Celik family was killed in the same way. 10)
VII
A REFUGEE FROM THE VILLAGE OF KOSTJEREVO
MY NAME IS TIMA DAUTOVIĆ. I am an eyewitness to unimaginable crimes which took place in the villages of Kostjerevo and Drinjača in the Commune of Zvornik. The crimes were carried out by members of the Serbian Chemiks. Some were from this region and others had come from Serbia. The village of Kostjerevo no longer exists. The houses of Muslims were looted and burned. Women were dishonored, and they were taken way with their children in the direction of Tuzla.
Using force and violence, the Chetniks drove the entire population out of our village and sent them in the direction of Drinjaca. We knew the leaders of the Chemiks. One was Dragan Ingjatović who was a former employee of Zvornik's municipal administration. There was also the policeman, Ljubisav from Zelinje. I knew another of their leaders-Mile Mijatovic who was also known as Cornpone.
It was these Chetniks who took our men to the auditorium in the cultural center of our town. It was there that they beat them for hours. The women and children could hear the screams and moans of these helpless people. Blood covered the walls. The Chemiks then took thirty-five men out of the center and shot them. They slaughtered them all. The men to die were seventeen to seventy years old. No one survived.
The women's turn came next. The Chemiks raped them and molested them in other ways. The Chemiks kidnapped the remaining people. They took away about a dozen boys up to the age of fifteen. Their fate is completely unknown. On May 31, a Sunday, they packed 150 women and children into two buses and drove them toward Tuzla. In order to prove that my account is true I will name the thirty-five victims in Drinjaca who I personally knew... I am prepared to repeat this statement before any international court.11)
VIII
A FORMER INMATE OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP AT
KARAKAJ
I WAS IMPRISONED in the Serbian concentration camp at Karakaj in Zvornik from Jun 1 to 10. They had turned the Technical Museum at the school in Karakaj into a camp. There were about seven hundred prisoners from the Muslim villages of Sestići, Klisa, Djulići, Sjenokos, Kaludran, Celišmanu, Lupe, and Bijeli Potok.
The camp authorities were relentless in their brutal treatment of the inmates. We were kept in overcrowded rooms without sufficient air or water. Many people died in this suffocating atmosphere. They beat us with their fists, rifle butts, and planks of wood. I saw people covered with blood. After the beatings many never got up again. We were ordered to pick up those who had fallen and to load them onto trucks. Although many were still alive, they were driven off. I do not know where. I know of more than twenty people who died from suffocation. Among them was Hrustan Avdić who was director of the elementary school in Petkovći.
The number of prisoners kept declining. There was only one reason. They would come and take away a new group. They would tell us they were taking them to Pale for a prisoner exchange. Immediately, however, we could hear rifle shots, screams, and the moans of the dying. My group's turn soon came. There were many with me including Nurija Jasarević and Avdo Jasarević from the village of Klisa. The others included Sejdo Hasanović, Muradif Hasanović, Asim Hamzić, Smajo Smalović, Ramiz Sinanović, and Osman Samjlović. All these men came from the village of Sestići. They made us stand against the wall and the began firing immediately. I took my cousin Sejdo's hand. It was a miracle but I survived and hid like a dead man among my dead neighbors. When the Chetniks went off to get a new group of prisoners, I crawled away from the killing ground.
Before I arrived at the camp about four hundred people had already been killed. The other three hundred inmates were exposed to many kinds of torture. I doubt they were allowed to live. They would have been inconvenient witnesses to the horrific crimes which were committed. Among those who committed the murders were a number of men who were the neighbors of those they killed. I can identify Vlajko Ivanovic from Petkovci who previously was an executive at the Gorenje factory. I also saw Bow Vidović from Malesići who had been a member of the town council in Zvornik. The man who killed the most was Miladin Gojkov Todorović from Trsic. I am prepared to repeat this statement before any international court or commission if requested.12)
IX
MERSUDINA HODŽIĆ FROM THE VILLAGE OF ZAKLOPAČA
IT WAS SATURDAY, MAY 16, around four o'clock when a van arrived in the village with reservists. They surrounded the village. Time passed. Nothing happened, except occasionally we heard distant shooting. About five o'clock two police cars arrived with reservists, and the policeman, Miomir Milosević, from the neighboring village of Milici. Five Lada Niva cars which were full of Chetniks also arrived. One of the cars had the word "massacre" written on it. There were at least fifty Chetniks. All the cars were full and some of the Chetniks were sitting on the roofs of the cars. Several were wearing camouflage uniforms and some had disguised their faces with nylon stockings or sunglasses. Some of them were dressed as civilians.
They had beards, Chemik badges, anq other Chemik symbols. They came into the village and asked where we kept our weapons. They said that if they found any weapons we didn't have a chance. In fact, no one in the village had any weapons because we had handed them over much earlier when we were given an ultimatum. Two people tried to run for it, but they were caught. One of them was my uncle Haso Hodžić. They brought him over to where we were. First, they shot him in the legs. And, then they shot him in the head. Ilija Janković's brother from Rajići killed him. Mujo Hodzic, Bećir Hodžić, Raif Hodžić, Salko Salahović, and Bajro Salahović had been working in the fields. The Chemiks took them away. They included another of my uncles and five other men. They were all killed. The Chemiks began to shoot all over the village. My mother and the other women tried to hide in their houses. The Chemiks fired on our houses for fifteen or twenty minutes. We lay on the floor for about an hour until it was quiet. We then began to escape ftom the village. It was then that I saw the dead eyes of my brother.13)
X
SENA HODŽIĆ FROM THE VILLAGE OF ZAKLOPAČA
WHEN THE CHETNIKS came into the village, I was at home with my husband Ibrahim who was thirty-nine, my sons Halid, age twelve, and Amir, age eight. When the Chemiks began to shoot, we tried to run away. My husband tried to get out of the village, but I stayed in the house with the children because I was afraid to go out. The Chemiks were all around. Milorad Milosević told my husband to come closer. When Ibrahim approached, Milosević shot him right in the stomach. From the window I saw my husband fall to the ground. He was dead. Just a few meters from where my husband was killed, they held two young men, the unmarried brothers Osman and Bego Hamidović. The Chetnik Brano shot them just as he walked up to them. Osman died right away, but Bego still showed signs of life. He asked for help and some water. We were afraid to go out and help him.
As soon as the Chemiks left, killing everything in their way, we went out and tried to help Bego. But it was too late. He was dead. While the Chemiks were busy killing the Hamidovic brothers, three other men, Salim Abdić and Murat and Muradif Hreljic tried to escape from the village, but the Chemiks caught them and brought them back to the village, and killed them ruthlessly. After that, the Chemiks went into Salim's house, where his older brother Musto Abdić, his father Saban, his mother Mevla, his daughter, his sister-in-law Zulfija, his son Samir, age seven, and his one-year-old baby were. The Chemiks killed them all at the same time. When we got to them, they were lying in blood, heaped one on top of the other. When we saw what had happened to the Abdil: family, I took the children and fled with the others in a truck. I left my husband lying on the ground with all the other dead people in our village.14)
XI
AN EIGHTY-FOUR- YEAR-OLD REFUGEE FROM MILJEVINA
THEY CAUGHT MY HUSBAND and slaughtered him. And then they threw his body on the fire. I saw them set seven houses on fire. They left and then returned. This time they packed all our animals onto tractors and trucks and drove them toward Miljevina. They said they were taking it all to Serbia and Montenegro. Everything was burned to the ground. Nothing was left. Noth- ing but ashes. Yes, they caught Abid Vukara. They threw him into the fire and burned him alive. There was one girl. I remember she was retarded. They killed her father and also threw him into the fire. They took her away and raped her.15)
XII
THE TESTIMONY OF ALuA LUANOVIĆ FROM BRČKO
THEY DROVE US UKE A HERD into the hospital in Brcko. They constantly used their rifle butts to beat us. One old woman fell under the blows and never got up. They divided the people whom they had gathered into groups. About 180 or 200 men were taken off to the mosque. I was among this group. Most stayed at the mosque for four days but I was transferred to another place. In the mosque we had no place to relieve ourselves. We were forced to make use of the avdestana.16)
We were given food for the first time after two days. The slightest remark would elicit a range of punishments. They beat people on the palms with a club. I saw them cut off a man's ear and another's nose. They also would jump ftom a table onto a man's breastbone. All this took place at the hospital where we were first held as prisoners. One young man who was known in town as Sarajka was crucified in the town center.
After two days they took a group of about two hundred people to the restaurant at the Laser plant. On that night a young Chetnik they called Ranko arrived. He was about thirty years old. He called out people by their last name and slaughtered them in front of the factory building. The guards made them lie on the ground so that they were out of our sight. Only when they had gone away and we could manage to get up to the windows did we see these people with their throats cut. In the room next to the restaurant there were a dozen women of various ages. Ranko raped a woman who was the mother of two children. I know this from the cries I heard.
They called out the names of people who belonged to the SDA, and many others, by their last names. They called them out in sets of three. We would hear three shots. Of course, they never came back. They did everything in sets of three. It was all part of the symbolism. They crossed themselves with three fingers and they killed people in groups of three. I could see what happened through a crack in the door of the shed. They laid people down on their sides with their heads on the sidewalk beside the gutter. This way the blood flowed away. They killed twenty-five to thirty people every night until May 16. The last one killed was Avdo Karić who lived in the same house as I did.
After the 16th the direct killing stopped. We saw the corpses of people they brought in from other locations. Until the 16th they threw the naked bodies of those they had been killed into the Sava river. They then started burning them in the dog pound where stray dogs had been killed once. At one stage they were bringing dead people in cars from the city and packing them into mass graves in Potočari. Later they switched methods and drove them in refrigerator trucks and burned them at the dog pound. This is on the road out of Brčko towards the Interplet factory. One day they brought ten or twenty young men, aged eighteen to twenty-five, naked, with their genitals torn out. Many also had their ears and noses cutoff. Out of the total of 1,500 prisoners, 120 were saved and got out only by some kind of intervention or bribery.17)
WHILE THE WORLD watches in silence, the Muslims of Bosnia are being exterminated or driven from the land they always called home. And this genocide - if one may use the word-is taking place in the heart of "civilized" Europe. The question Danilo Kiš once raised still needs to be answered: "Who are we? Where are we from? Where are we going?"
NOTES
1. Vladimir Dedijer and Anton Meletić, Genocide Against Muslims, 1941-1945:
Collection of Documents and Testimony (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1990).
2. Cited in Dedijer and Meletić, p. viii.
3. Arkanovci are the followers of Zeljko Ražnjatovic who is better known as
"Arkan." This is one of several Setbian paramilitary fotmations the members of which are now frequently called "Chetniks" after the World War II units led by Draž Mihailović. Fiercely anti-Partisan, the Chemiks, who opposed the Germans at the start of the war, ultimately collaborated with the Nazis in a common but futile effort to defeat Tito's Partisans. [Editors' note.]
4. Kula-Grad is a suburb of Zvornik.
5. Ibrahim Kajan, Muslimanski danak u krvi (Zagreb, 1992), pp. 29-30.
6. The full text of B. I.'s testimony is in the Zenica Center for the Investigation of
War Crimes and Genocide.
7. The full text ofH. S.'s statement is in the Zenica Center.
8. The statement ofS. N., a housewife from the village of Jeleč, is in the Zenica Center. 9. The testimony of K. B. from the village of Kosovo Polje in the Commune of Visegrad is located in Zenica, in the records of the Council for the Protection of the People of Bosnia from Genocide and the Effects of War, September 25,1992.
10. The full text of the testimony of K. S. is located in the records of the Council.
11. The full testimony and the list of names given by Tima Dautovic can be found in Kajan, pp. 38-39.
12. The statement of the survivor from Karakaj was recorded in Tuzla on June 18, 1992. See Kajan, pp. 38-39.
13. Mersudina Hodžić's testimony was recorded in Zagreb at the end of May 1992. She arrived in Zagreb with about fifty women and children from the village of Zaklopača. Not a single male from their village is known to have survived the May 16 massacre. Her testimony was reported by several European journalists who met her shortly after her arrival.
14. Kajan, pp. 46-47.
15. This account was recorded on videotape in Jablanica, July 1992.
16. The avdestana is a facility used for the ritual ablutions before prayers.
17. Kajan, p. 63.
TRANSLATED BY DOROTHEA HANSON
Iz knjige:
Rabia Ali & Lawrence Lifschultz: Why Bosnia, The Pamphleteer*s Press, Inc. Stone Creek, Connecticut, 1993., str. 86-97
