I attended international panel discussion `Transitional justice – feministic approach`, organized by Women in Black, from Belgrade, on Thursday 09th of July 2009. I was not focused enough because of my personal reasons and I overviewed this feministic approach to context of transitional justice. But because their confidence in me, I would like to light up this feministic aspect perceived on trials for war crimes in Belgrade.
Throught Humanitarian Law Fund I had the authority to represent families of the victims:
Croats, Muslims and Albanians, during the eleven trials on war crimes in front of the District Court – Council on war crimes in Belgrade. During those trials, beside extremely relevant knowledge about severe and merciless war in former YU, women side of war showed clearly, as well. Women are the greatest victims of every war, especially such a criminal and unhuman. They are heroins of disaster which was spreading in the last decade of the previous century throught our regions.
During the trial for war crimes committed on the territory of Zvornik, there is a procedure Regarding murder of 700 men from 15 villages of Zvornik. On the territory of Bijeli Potok near Zvornik, on 1st of June 1992, complete Muslim population from 15 villages was gathered with the promise that they will be transferred to the territory under Muslim control. But, in Bijeli Potok, men were devided from women and children and approximately 700 of them were killed in the next few days. Women, mothers, sisters, children of those 700 men, were left alone. Many times I visited Djulići village, which is one of those villages. Among the others from this village, a fother with four sons was killed, too. Five women in five houses were alone there to takeover the burden of life in the future, raising of little children and survivor, generally speaking. Visiting those houses, I was impressed by the dignity, impassivnes and hospitality of those women.
On that spot, personally, observing those women and children without men, I realized that on 1st of June 1992 in Bijeli Potok, genocide was committed, for real, though legally some elements of it are missing.
I was introduced with Nura Alispahić, while I was preparing for the trial to unit `Scorpions` who killed six Muslim civilians from Srebrenica near small town of Trnovo, on 16th of July 1995. Her seventeen year old son was killed among them. I visited her in suburb of Tuzla in shed, where she lived, after she left Srebrenica. Though she is illiterate she is very intelligent and courageous, brave and proud woman and she talked slowly, precisely and fluently about her tragedy, about every detail, since she saw her son for the last time until she saw him killed on the film. Nura followed trial in Belgrade and during one of the sessions, she heard testimony that one of the killers of her helpless son, who was laying on the ground, hit him with his boot and asked him - ..` have you ever f…..
yet?, so when boy answered that he didn`t, he told him - ` And you will not ever! `
After that trial, in the hotel Nura was excited and upset and she spoke through clenched teeth : ` Today it was more difficult for me then the day I saw them killing him `.
Will we ever find out how many mothers are out there as Nura is, whose sons have been killed in this horrible war, didn`t have time to fall in love and kiss the girl, to live.
In small Kosovo town of Suva Reka on 26th of March 1999, members of Special Police Units and Police Station of Suva Reka, forced 48 people to enter caffe, all of them were members of Berisha family, they were mostly women and children and old men and they shot them from automatic weapons, machine – guns and by throwing bombs, as well. Though severly wounded, two women have survived this massacre – Šireta and Vjolca Berisha. They saw by their own eyes, murdering or daying of their children, after being wounded. Among all those dead people they tried to pretend that they are dead, too.
They put them in the truck with the rest of the dead in order to transfer them to a mass tomb. There in that truck, under the cover, they talked to eachother. One of them has suggested they should jump out of the truck, while it is moving, the other suggested they should be calm and try to get out afterwards from this tomb. I have never red in any book, never seen in any movie or heard ever before, not in anthique tragedies, nor in books of Shakespeare, or anywhere such a kind of shivering, terrible dilema, strange to our mind.
They finally deacided to jump out of the moving truck and they survived. Shireta witnessed in front of the court. It was the most shocking testimony I have ever heard in my life.
Members of Police within Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, executed 14 women
and children of Albanian nationality in the yard of one house in small town of Podujevo, on 28th of March 1999. One of those children was only two years old. They ignored those mothers begging not to kill their children, they raped and killed mother in front children, or children in front of their mother, took marbles from one of the boys – they were torturing them. Five of them, though severly wounded, survived. And those who did not had poetic and beautiful names like from Homer`s poetry chapter – Nora, Dafina, Mimoza, Albion, Shpetim, Lirije, Jehona, Saranda, Genz, Fatos. Five of the members of the Police were sentenced in two devided processes. Children who have survived, testified in both of the trials. In the first one, they were just kids. In the second, after six years have passed, they were grown up girls and very beautiful, as well.
Little Lirije is a real beuty, looks like movie star. Their behaviour on both of the trials was remarkable. They were turning their heads out of spite and with contempt, so that their glances and glances of the killers do not meet.
On the agricultural property of Ovčara near Vukovar, 200 people were killed, as
hostages, of Croatian nationality, by the members of the units, belonging to YU Army Guardian brigade, under the command of colonel Mile Mrkšić. Among the killed was pregnant women of Croatian nationality, Ružica Mrkobašić. Her pregnancy has moved ahead but they killed her in most sadistic way, ignoring her begging to spare her life and life of her unborn child. After they killed her, they were joking in vulgar and cinic way, giving unhuman comments on her death. All those examples I gave are just a small part of women suffering in the war and my contribution to women women side of war.
13th of July 2009, Belgrade
Dragoljub Todorović