The families of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica say goodbye to their loved ones. Some were buried with only a few bones of their fathers, sons, grandfathers, husbands and other family members.
Revda Efendić lost her father, brother and husband in the genocide.
I saw everything with my own eyes. When the buses came, when they separated, when they took the child from the woman's hands. I looked after her, she shouted "give me back Nasser". They told her, 'we only took him from you because his name is Naser' - Efendić recalled.
She was carrying a baby and a son with her who didn't even enter the first grade. She thought they would take him too.
When I got on the bus, they told me to take off my shirt because there was blood on it from people being killed in the hangar in front of me. I told them that my daughter was sick, that she was coughing up blood and that it was from her. They let me go - she added.
826 children were killed in Srebrenica in the period from 1992 to 1995, and 694 children were killed in just one week in July 1995.
This was stated by researcher Zilha Mastalić-Košuta from the Institute for Researching Crimes Against Humanity and International Law at the University of Sarajevo.
Numerous documents, data, statements, information, knowledge, as well as numerous judgments of convicted war criminals before the ICTY and before domestic courts testify to the crimes committed, and the mass and methods of committing crimes against children in Srebrenica prove that the aggressors had no sensitivity towards even the youngest and the most protected category of the civilian population - said Mastalić-Košuta on the occasion of the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.
It clarifies that a crime against a child is simultaneously a crime against his family, and thus the entire society as a whole, with far-reaching consequences that leave lasting changes in the social community.
Mastalić-Košuta is the author of the scientific papers "Crimes against children in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the examples of Sarajevo, Mostar and Srebrenica (1992-1995)" and "Genocide against children in Srebrenica - the UN safe zone in July 1995", in which, among other things, , cite numerous examples and a chronology of crimes committed against children in the UN "safe zone" in Srebrenica.
After the capture of Srebrenica, columns of people from all directions fled towards the main base of UNPROFOR in Potočari, where between 20,000 and 25,000 refugees, mostly women, children, the elderly and those incapacitated for military purposes, were housed.
Among them were around thirty deaf-mute persons, including deaf-mute children, who were mostly liquidated in the following days. The conditions were unbearable and the situation chaotic. Hungry and thirsty, panicked and scared. Without medicine and food, without sanitary facilities in the greatest heat of July.
On July 12, members of the VRS with tanks set off in the direction of Potočar. Together with Ratko Mladić, they entered Potočare, where the persecution of about 20,000 people began in front of the military base of the Dutch Battalion. On July 12 and 13, Serbian military and police forces, including units from Serbia and the "Republic of Serbian Krajina", separated men between the ages of 14 and 65, and then summarily killed them in various places around the UN base in Potočari. them.
In the following days, they also killed women, children, and the elderly. There is information that girls aged 15 and over were separated from the group in Potočari and taken to Bratunac to be shot. Relevant sources also talk about rapes. At the UN base, some women forcibly aborted their children out of fear.
The women who remained with the children later testified about the horrific events in which their mothers' children were taken to be executed or they were killed in their arms. The most difficult part was separating the mothers from their children.
After Mladić's order at the meeting with UNPROFOR to make a list of men of military age in Potočari, the Dutch Battalion listed 239 men who were handed over to the VRS and then ordered these men to leave Potočari. Those people never came back, they were taken away and killed by the VRS. This list also included 26 children, between 15 and 18 years old, who were killed in the following days.
Special units of the MUP of the Republic of Serbia, better known as the "Scorpions" group, took a number of captured Bosniak civilians, including boys, to Jahorina and Trnovo, where they were tortured and killed. Those murders were recorded on a TV camera and later released to the world. Mother Nura Alispahić recognized her sixteen-year-old son Azmir in the video.
Three-year-old Nesiba (Muharem) Alić, four-year-old Emina (Nail) Vranjko, and five-year-old Edina (Zijad) Mujić are on the list of victims of the genocide over the UN "safe zone" site of Srebrenica in July 1995, which includes the names of 8,372 people. All the girls were killed on July 11, 1995.
The youngest victim was the newborn baby Fatima Muhić.
In the following days, according to a clearly defined plan, people were captured and killed, including children. Most of the victims had their hands tied behind their backs with wire. Mass murders were carried out in several locations: Hajdučki cemetery, Jadr, Cerska dolina, Kamenički brdo, warehouse in Kravica, Sandići, Tišće, Orahovac, Nova Kasaba, dam near Petkovci, Branjevo military farm, Cultural center in Pilice, Kozluk and other locations.
The liquidations continued even after July 18. The commander of the Zvornik brigade, war criminal Vinko Pandurević, ordered that the prisoners should not be taken into custody, but killed immediately on the spot. During that period, the VRS worked intensively on finding Bosniaks and killing them, which continued on July 19 and 20. On July 23, 1995, on the orders of Ratko Mladić, the military police also killed a number of wounded people from Srebrenica who were being treated in Zvornik.
The number of those killed and the quick liquidation prove that a large number of organized and disciplined perpetrators participated in the preparation and execution of the crime, in fact the complete political, administrative, police and military potential. "Regardless of all acts, resolutions, agreements, conventions on the protection of children, in the period from 1992 to 1995, numerous and serious crimes were committed against the children of Srebrenica, including the crime of genocide," Mastalić-Košuta points out.
He adds that 694 children were killed in Srebrenica in one week, which speaks volumes about the character of the war itself and the intentions of the aggressors - to destroy a people, a country and erase the traces of their existence.
Forensic evidence shows that primary, secondary and even tertiary graves have been found to cover up mass executions which clearly shows the type of crimes involved.
In addition to the physical killing and wounding of children, the serious form also includes psychological injuries, which, although less visible consequences than physical ones, leave permanent and incalculable consequences on the entire Bosnian society.
Children experienced severe traumatic experiences, injuries, loss of parents and loved ones, starvation and lack of food and medicine, they fell ill and died from the cold and various diseases, they were separated from their parents and loved ones, they were denied a normal education, their childhood was stopped, denied favorite activities and more. Children also suffered sexual abuse, that is, violence based on gender. A certain number of children were captured and survived the most terrible tortures", says Mastalić Košuta.
He notes that the crimes against children in Srebrenica were committed in front of the eyes of the world public.
Although Srebrenica was declared a "safe zone" by the UN, the crimes continued after that with even greater intensity. A crime against children is also a crime against their parents, relatives, friends - it is a crime of much greater scope and scale. Killing a child destroys the family, society, and state. The consequences of these crimes are still visible today, and Bosnian society will have to fight with them for a long time to come," concludes Zilha Mastalić-Košuta.
Source: Hayat.ba