#16 Guilty!

The history of the Balkans has always been filled with bloody conflicts, underpinned among all by incomprehensive notions, yet, despite it, each of them changed the shape of Europe, European thinking and the way the Western Europe perceived its Eastern counterpart. The region was born throughout the wars and throughout the uneasy times, the oppression started aggression, the vicious circle.

 

''(...) in December 1991 Serbs voted against Bosnia's seceding from Yugoslavia in a referendum largely boycotted by Muslims and Croats.  Capitalizing on the results of the referendum, Serb nationalist politicians declared their own state in Bosnia, the Republika Srbska (...)''

 

Centuries layered upon, till the end of the game. Hence, there was no end, at all.

 

''(...) Before the war, no place on earth  made her feel safer than Srebrenica.

 

Camila's father had been a locksmith and her mother a housewife. After high school, she had journeyed to Tuzla - the largest city in northern Bosnia  and studied business at the local university. There she met her husband Ahmet, a gentle, soft-spoken man with glasses that hid his bright, blue eyes. He had caught her eye in the library in their dormitory (...)''.

 

''(...) Their life took on  a comfortable routine (...).''

The final tragedy hit after the Second World War, the breakup of Yugoslavia revealed the atrocities so scarcely expected, so brutal, unwelcome, hence, witnessed with such diversity that it was unbearable to admit it is happening in Europe.

''(...) Fighting erupted in Sarajevo on April 5,1992 (...) Ultranationalist paramilitary groups from Serbia  - including Arkan's Tigers crossed into Bosnia and began expelling Muslims from the Muslim-majority towns (...) Muslims houses were set on fire (...)''

The shame and further exhumations prevailed, the peace "is finally brought to the Balkans" "I want to congratulate You all, Your commitment, Your endurance, Your will to stop the bloodshed" - Bill Clinton, former US President. We see a stability of the region just on its surface, underneath, however, I dare to look further, and, I am not the only one.
 

"The End Game" – The betrayal and fall of Srebrenica Europe's Worst Massacre since World War II" written by David Rohde I read a couple of times, each time I found more and more evident and obvious reasons to dig in search of more, it is not the truth, it is always out there, it is the overwhelming will to understand and apprehend the past, and encounter the future, to see it with a different angle. More pleasant to the past. David Rohde uncovers the political plot, the political atrocity with the Dutch UN Peacekeeping Units in the middle, totally unprepared, passive, pensive and unable to stop the genocide so meticulously planned and conducted.

''(...) When his battalion, Dutch-bat III, arrived on January 18, 1995, Egbers was at the center of a confrontation between Dutch and Muslim soldiers that set the tone for the next six months. Srebrenica's commanders were furious that the Serbs had again sneaked forward while a new battalion of peacekeepers entered the safe area and took strategic positions along the enclave's front line (...). Secretary General Boutros Boutros -Ghali laid out several options for the Security Council to reform the dying mission's mandate. Increase the number of peacekeepers and use force to deliver aid and protect safe areas (...)'' 

What they must have learnt is "what You cannot stop, You simply, cannot" – "Without the knowledge and information, consecutive torrents of preventive actions, You do nothing, because, there is nothing You can do!"

''(...) Let us be pragmatic  ... and above all let us to be honest with ourselves and those we have pledged to protest. One shouldn't play in the storm if one cannot throw lighting bolts (...)'' 

 

''(...) Romeo, this is Bravo Two. Over

Bravo Two, this is Romeo. Where are You? Groen asked anxiously. Bos had been out of radio contact for ten minutes.

We were surrounded by Serbs. Bos said. They are ordering Us to go to Bratunac (...)'' ''(...) Groen wished Bos good luck. The radio went dead. The Serbs now had  twenty Dutch hostages (...)''

Truly they didn't and what came later was a shock to the every possible intelligence throughout the world. Furthermore it was all too late. And so it goes, they find them, they find the body parts, piece by piece. Most of them (the scientists, volunteers) have been doing it for so long that they do not even blink an eye, they became as cold as the soil they dig deep inside to excavate some evidence, some hint of explanation, something that allows them to work on.

''(...)Did Mladic have a plan from the beginning? (...) ''Yes, he wanted  to make the map ethnically pure in eastern Bosnia (...)''

 How sorrowful it must be to see and put together  body part almost all the time, how difficult it must be to explain and to talk to the group of families who are waiting for the answers, they are asking questions; "Is it my husband?" "Is it my Son?" "Is it him? Did You find him?" 

''(...) If Srebrenica disappears, Zepa disappears. There's the whole problem of the enclaves. The problem is the reaction form international communities. They will demand the invasion of the safe area and demand something to-be-done air-strikes ... which is practically impossible (...)''

Ewa Elvira Klonowski a Polish anthropologist, PhD, has got tears in her eyes, but, continues her work, she knows, the duties she was submitted to are upmost important, that "the genocide is the most difficult of crimes to prove". To understand the core of them matter, regardless of circumstances You always have to talk with everyone, otherwise You will never get the perception of what is not only black and white but has got shades in the middle.  The outer and inner side of the investigation proves the right approach.

"(...) I remember the last day of the year, it was the time when the war started, 1992. We had an aid supplies for the city under siege at that particular time. The truck had entered Bosnia from the southern site. Shortly before the night began we saw the villages, empty and deserted, on one lived the any more. All was put down, there was no people! (...) Mostar was the place where we were so afraid to stop in, the ghost town, we felt the presence of something, but what was it ... no one knew. We were petrified. Neither of Us had a courage to go into the woods (...)" "(...) In Sarajevo we were stopped by the Serbs, we were afraid of the worst, luckily, they were all drank, they let Us go the following morning, with incomplete aid supplies and half emptied truck we continued Our way ahead (...)" ''(...) Approximately 70% of the population consisted of refugees from villages already held by Serbs (...)''

Dr. Ewa Klonowski "The process of identification is very difficult, it is mentally exhausting not only for Us but for the Families as well, it consists of several stages. The stages are very meticulous, we had to do it in that particular way to increase objectivity and reduce to the minimum expectations and hopes of the family members if We fail and the search everyone was waiting with such an anticipation proves and turns out to be incomplete".

 

At the very beginning the was a scene of the local Theatre, the scene is filled with personal belongings, the clothes, other stuff. Every Thursday people enter the Theatre and wait (...). Scarcely the full and complete outfit is found, mostly, there are pieced of material, single socks and other personal things. Every single item is numbered; B stands for the Body – the clothes had been already matched to the set of bones, skull, teeth, the complete skeleton. The whole body has been found. BP stands for Body Parts, there are single, individual bones found. A stands for Artifacts, there are no bones but there are clothes and personal belongings assigned to the particular person. There is the firs stage or rather step to bring all pieces of the tragedy together, in Tuzla, another one starts, in this small city people used to find salt. Now, in the salt mine there are beds, on the beds there are body bags, each of the bag contains the body parts of the missing men who were killed on that feral day in July 1994, whose massive grave was repositioned more than couple of times. This place is horrid and dreadful.

 

 

''(...) The conversation was brief. Defense Minister Joris Voorhoeve had known for days he might have to face this decision. After consulting with Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van Mierlo, Voorhoeve made one of the few courageous decisions surrounding the attack on Srebrenica. He decided that the lives of thirty Dutch peacekeepers were not worth more than the lives of 30.000 Muslims. The UN safe area and its people should be defended (...) Dutch government had no objections to Close Air Support (...)''

The most painful, I guess, is the moment when You meet someone You once knew and after it all, You have to look It in the eyes ... as if nothing happened. There are certain set of questions strictly forbidden in Bosnia; "How is Your Father, Son or Husband?", "What have You been doing during the War?"

• Hi, it's me.
• You?! Here?
• Remember, here in Bratunac, we used to welcome everyone with such a hospitality ... .
• How are You?
• Kids are fine, My daughter is working. Lucky girl. Most of the women do not have job.
• I do not have any. How's Your business?
• Poor.
• How's Your mum?
• She is still alive.
  Silence. The End.
• I knew Your father well.
• I know, You were friends.
• I saw his, I saw when He was taken.
• No matter how was, it was, but, We are looking for the bones, the bones of my father, where is it?
  • I do not know, I know nothing.
  • No bones, no funeral. How to live and go on? ....
    Despair. Silence. The End.

Srebrenica stands still, people do not care, they do not care what they wear, how they wear their clothes, women do not care, wear whatsoever. It does not matter, it all makes them older, but, who cares ... The summer, the heat made them tired, the winter, the frost and dark days more and more depressed, They do not want to go to Tuzla, it is too much, too nerve-wrecking and too hot. They do not want to go to Tuzla it is too much, too cold and far more disappointing.

Sarajevo is poor as a mouse, yet, it wants to have an image of a humdrum city, a cosmopolitan city, maybe one day .... Maybe.

Carla del Ponte, a former Chief Persecutor had no doubts: "One has to admit that, even though it is too late, far too late, the justice has nonetheless been served. I honestly hope that in his cell, Karadzic will have more than enough time to consider all the crimes he committed and regret them".

 

After so many years, obviously, Bosnia had to evolve, change and go on, David Rohde who covered the news release in Bosnia at that time says:

''Well, it was disturbing. My time speaking to Bosnian Serb soldiers about this, they saw themselves as the victim of some sort of giant Muslim conspiracy to take over Europe, and that they had to act this way to save Europe. And they were deluded, but, again, they were abetted by a failure to act. So, the real lesson of all this is to not promise to bring justice, to not promise to sort of remove a brutal leader and then to not act. That’s the mistake. If we’re going to do nothing, say nothing. But it’s the raising the expectations and doing nothing that then emboldens the perpetrators of these crimes''.

 

Srebrenica is remembered, after a long trial, Radovan Karadzic has been found guilty, finally, unquestionalby, guilty of massive atrocity, genocide and crimes against humanity, now, when finally the political situation influenced the political decisions which are pleasing to the eye. Karadzic has been sentenced for forty years in prison. The genocide he was eventually proven of is a huge success. The judge, O Gon Kwon said that in accordance the pieces of evidence submitted, "a plan to destry the Muslim population" was very well masterminded and implemented, shamely, under the UN Peacekeeping jurisdiction, the safe area and enclave. Radovan Karadzic was found guilty of conveyance of a long-term siege of Sarajevo, it was proven that His actions and decisions made the siege much more obvious and durable, longer and difficult to abort.

"All civilians suffered fear and hardship"

"Radovan Karadzic intensified the campaign when the Bosnian side refused to make peace deal under his terms"

"The chamber finds that murder, extermination, and persecution and foreseeble to Karadzic"

"Serb forces killed Bosnian Muslims and Croats during and after taking over. They were killed in mass executions, shot in detension, taken from facilities and killed by Serb forces, in other cases they died by severe beatings by Serbs forces or as a result of inhumane conditions"

"He was found guilty of taking UN Peacekeeping hostage during the conflict"

Radovan Karadzic's statement sounded as follows " I am not guilty".

 

"During the trial, to the amazement of experts following the case, he described himself as a “true friend to Muslims” who had tried to make them feel safe, despite his fiery speeches leading up to the war.

He mounted a zealous defense, bringing 238 witnesses to attest to his innocence. He based his defense on the premise that the Bosnian war broke out because Serbs had no choice but to defend themselves against a Bosnian Muslim separatist regime that intended to create an Islamic state".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BKvPxN-8dE

Bibliography:

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.icty.org/cases/
 

 "The End Game" – The betrayal and fall of Srebrenica Europe's Worst Massacre since World War II", David Rohde, 1997, ISBN0-374-25342-0

Acknowledgments to

Mr. David Rohde
Ms. Ewa Elwira Klonowski, PhD
Ms. Carla del Ponte
The authorities and  workers of PI Haaglanden, Scheveningen, Den Haag.


(22.07.2015)