Interview by: Delvin Kovač
Source: Nap.ba
From May 4, 1992, Goražde lived in a kind of concentration camp. The Great Serbian aggressor knew that the local population had no weapons to offer adequate resistance. However, the aggressor soldiers did not count on the brave defenders.
The population had no choice - try to defend themselves, their families and homeland or disappear? With superhuman efforts, with small amounts of weapons, they managed to oppose an immeasurably stronger enemy.
Muamer Džananović, a research associate at the Institute for Researching Crimes Against Humanity and International Law at the University of Sarajevo, said this in an interview with Patria News Agency.
Džananović is the author of the book "Crimes against children in Goražde during the siege 1992-1995." and co-author of the book "Emergence of the Republic of Srpska: From Regionalization to Strategic Goals (1991-1992)". He is also the author of more than 20 scientific papers published in Bosnian and English. By the end of the year, his co-authored book will be published, which deals with crimes in the area of Zvornik in the period 1992-1995. years.
In Goražde, on Sunday, May 14, the Day of Remembrance of children killed in the period from 1992 to 1995 was marked for the first time. You are the only one who has scientifically dealt with this issue so far, and you are also the author of the book "Crimes against children in Goražde during the siege 1992-1995." Can you tell us some of the most significant facts you have come to in your many years of research?
Džananović: First of all, I want to emphasize that these researches are the result of work on a broader scientific project. I felt on behalf of the community that it is important to establish the identities and circumstances of the crime for the youngest fellow citizens who were killed. I must emphasize that, when I started the research, I did not think that we would find out that so many children were killed and wounded. But it perhaps best testifies to the extent of the crimes committed.
So it is about at least 120 killed and 428 wounded children in Goražde under siege. After that, I continued the research and the identities of several more wounded and killed boys and girls were established. In the future, I plan to publish an amended and supplemented edition of my book, so we will also include them in the work.
I must point out that during the research I came into contact with most of the parents and relatives of the murdered children and I have regular contact with many of them. That topic is certainly very painful for them and they grieve every day, they live with many questions. We as a society have to think about that too.
So the end result of my research was not just to determine the number. My research and my scientific work is much broader than that. I wanted us to talk about the children, about who they were, why they were killed, who else was killed in their family, who was still killed by the shell from which they were killed, what their names were, what they looked like. In addition to their families and relatives, we also think about how old they would be today, what they would do, what they would look like, whether they would have children of their own. These are all questions that their parents, their brothers and sisters ask themselves.
Let's ask ourselves at least once a year what we did for their parents, relatives, relatives of all the victims. The traumas that they have survived are transgenerational and we as a community need to be aware of that and be much more responsible towards that issue. It is important that the Day of Remembrance for murdered children in Goražde was finally established. I would like to thank the initiators of the idea for the opportunity for me and my research to be consulted about it.
So far, not a single indictment has been filed for the three-and-a-half-year barbaric siege of Goražde, during which more than 2,000 civilians were killed, including, as you yourself stated, at least 120 children. On the other hand, heroic fighters who defended the city honorably, such as Ahmet Sejdić, Ibra Merkez, Ešef Hurić... have already been tried for "crimes" they did not commit. Where is the justice and why are the victims trying to equate themselves with the criminals?
Džananović: Since May 4, 1992, the population of Goražde has been living in a kind of concentration camp. The aggressors predicted a quick "takeover of power", similar to the ones in the surrounding cities, and committing crimes and expelling the population in the coming period. The Great Serbian aggressor knew that the population of Goražde had no weapons to offer adequate resistance. On May 4, Goražde did not have a hospital, it did not have enough medical supplies, tens of thousands of people expelled from the area of Višegrad, Foča, Rogatica, Čajnič, etc. arrived, and the situation was already complicated by the lack of food, accommodation, health care...
All realistic assessments were in the direction that what happened in other municipalities will be committed here, i.e. that Goražde will fall under the control of the aggressors very quickly. However, the aggressor soldiers did not count on brave defenders. In the defense of Goražde, in addition to the resident population, the same contribution was made by those expelled from the surrounding areas. The population had no choice - either try to defend themselves, their families and their homeland or disappear? With superhuman efforts, with small amounts of weapons, they confronted an immeasurably stronger enemy.
Taking into account the scale of crimes committed against civilians, it is frustrating that 31 years after the firing of the first projectiles and artillery action against the civilian population and civilian facilities of Goražde during the siege, no one has been held accountable for the crimes committed. Recently, several indictments have been brought, which mainly focus on the crime committed in Lozje on May 22, 1992, but the crimes were committed continuously for three and a half years, systematically and in a wider area, and the cantonal and state prosecutor's offices had to do something concrete.
Are there any indications that in the near future judicial institutions, above all the prosecutor's office in Goražde, could start doing their job? Will the citizens of Goražde who witnessed the brutal aggression against their city ever receive justice?
Džananović: We support that everyone should be held accountable for the crime committed, regardless of its dimensions and regardless of the perpetrator's national, religious or any other affiliation. However, the paradox is that, when it comes to Goražde, the focus of investigative bodies and prosecutions is not numerous mass crimes committed against values protected by international law and against civilians as protected persons committed primarily against Bosniaks under siege, a targeted group as such.
There is no doubt that the indictments that are primarily brought against Bosniaks in these cases are in a huge imbalance in relation to the war crimes that were committed during the period of aggression against this region and the city of Goražde. Today, members of the ARBiH are continuously being investigated, interrogated, accused and prosecuted, and on the other hand, only in recent years have we had indictments, with the fact that some suspects live in Serbia and are inaccessible to domestic justice.
Regarding your question, I am not sure, given the time distance and the pace of work, that worldly justice will be served. Even if some were convicted, it would still not be satisfied considering the scale of the crimes committed.
In connection with the above, it is therefore important that the local authorities do much more on the culture of remembering everything that happened in Goražde, but also in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Goražde had to have a memorial center with an educational character about everything that happened in Goražde, but also in the wider area. Due to specific political circumstances, Goražde must become a place of adequate memorialization of everything that happened at least in the upper Podrinje. Unfortunately, today we have neither a symbol of memory nor a memorial room for murdered children.