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Serb's downplays number of victims in Srebrenica massacre, draws outrage of international community
AP ^ | Tue Sep 3,11:50 AM ET | IRENA GAJIC

Posted on 09/03/2002 10:15:20 AM PDT by Destro

Bosnian Serb government report downplays number of victims in Srebrenica massacre, draws outrage of international community

Tue Sep 3,11:50 AM ET

By IRENA GAJIC, Associated Press Writer

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Challenging both the U.N. war crimes tribunal and world opinion, the Bosnian Serb government said in a report issued Tuesday that far fewer Muslims were killed at Srebrenica than the 8,000 commonly reported.

The government paper — which also disputed findings that most of the victims were civilians — was denounced by the top international official in Bosnia as a "callous and irresponsible" attempt to rewrite Europe's worst massacre since World War II.

The report, issued two months before local and national elections in the Bosnian Serb part of the republic and the other half, run by Muslims and Croats, appeared to reflect continued strength by hard-liners loyal to Radovan Karadzic. Although on the run, the fugitive ( news - Y! TV) war time leader of the country's Serbs sought by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, still commands the loyalties of many of Bosnia's 1.2 million Serbs.

The July 1995 massacre came toward the end of the 3 1/2 year Bosnian war, after Bosnian Serbs took the Muslim enclave. As outmanned and ill-advised U.N. peacekeepers stood by, the Bosnian Serb army deported most of the women and girls and started on a days-long campaign of killing Srebrenica's older Muslim boys and men.

The remains of more than 5,000 of the Srebrenica massacre victims have been found in many of the hundreds mass graves unearthed in the eastern Bosnian region since the war's end. Most have been unearthed by forensic experts of the U.N. war crimes tribunal now trying former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ( news - web sites) for alleged responsibility in the Bosnian war and other Balkan bloodshed.

Still, Tuesday's report from the government running the Serb half of Bosnia claimed that no more than 2,000 to 2,500 people were killed — and of those, 1,800 were soldiers of the Muslim army. Previous numbers issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations were "manipulated" and "fabricated" the report said.

The office of Paddy Ashdown, the top international official overseeing Bosnia's postwar development, denounced the report as a "callous and irresponsible attempt to misguide voters and exploit the trauma of those who survived or were bereaved by the massacre."

"History cannot be rewritten in this way," said Mario Brkic, Ashdown's spokesman.

In a separate statement, Ashdown said that — although he had not yet personally read the report — it appears to be "so far from the truth as to be almost not worth dignifying with a response."

Calling the figures "outrageous," U.N. tribunal spokesman Refik Hodzic, said the Bosnian Serb report "flies in the face" of tribunal efforts to establish the truth about the massacre, including trials of those convicted of involvement in the killings.

Drazen Erdemovic, a Bosnian Serb soldier, confessed to participating in the massacres during his tribunal trial, and was sentenced to five years prison. Tuesday's Bosnian Serb report declared him "mentally ill."

The tribunal also sentenced Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic last year to 46 years in prison for ordering the attack on Srebrenica and the slaughter that followed the fall of the enclave. Hodzic said that his trial established that at Srebrenica, "many thousands of Bosnian men were killed, most probably 7,000 to 8,000."

"The fact that this mass execution took place was not disputed by General Krstic in his statement or by his defense in the appeals brief which they lodged," said Hodzic. "So, any such claim ... that there were just 2000 victims is simply outrageous."

Along with Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs wartime leader, Karadzic's top general, Ratko Mladic, remains at large. Like Karadzic, he is indicted by the tribunal for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacres and other atrocities.

Women with sons, husbands and other male relatives killed in Srebrenica denounced the report.

"I have not invented my son, (and) I lost my husband too," said Kada Hotic, 58. "I'm still missing all of my brothers and my husband's brothers.

"The Serbs know very well that they are lying to themselves and to the rest of the world."

Munira Subasic, 64, challenged the Bosnian Serb government to return the thousands of men still missing, if "only" 2,000 people were killed.

"I have one message for them," she said. "Their lies are making us stronger."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: balkans; bosnia; campaignfinance; unlist
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To: smokegenerator
Vehida Dedic. Bratunac, Republika Srpska. 16 April 1994.

This is the story of a girl who was raped in the midst of a civil war, not by her enemies, but by men who claimed to protect her.

The brutality and horror of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been measured over the last two bloodstained years, less by death and wounds, but by rape. Almost from the first fighting, rape - actual, threatened and rumoured - became a tool of terror and control. Now, in the chaos and lawlessness of the Muslim enclaves in southern Bosnia, a new pattern of the same crime is emerging.

Only a few survivors have yet been able to testify to these latest events. One of them is Vehida Dedic. Raped and beaten by a gang of men led by the Bosnian Muslim commander of Srebrenica, Naser Oric, she was left with no-one to turn to in her own town. For her, crossing the lines into the hands of an army which was shelling the people around her, was the only means of escape.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A rotund, gentle, elderly man, a lawyer from Belgrade, sits in the cramped, dusty office of a disused factory in the Bosnian Serb town of Bratunac. Opposite him is a tall, thick-set young Serb soldier, toying with a handgun, slumped in a chair. A diminutive 15 year-old girl enters and the two men stiffen. They each know why she is here.

The soldier is the girl's temporary warder. She is, after all, an object of some curiosity in Bratunac: an infiltrator from across the nearby front-line. The lawyer is here to take a statement for Yugoslavia's own War Crimes Tribunal. Vehida Dedic, visibly in pain and with one side of her face swollen by toothache, tells her story.

"I was desperate. I realised that I couldn't live there any more ... I was thinking of committing suicide." As fighting spread across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vehida and her family had fled from their village of Pobudje to the nearby Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. Vehida, initially in makeshift refugee accommodation, had recently found space - although no protection - in a house in the centre of Srebrenica. It was there that she met the town's commander.

"Two months ago, I moved to that house. I lived there until the first of April. Every second evening or so, Naser Oric used to come, usually with a different woman. He was always followed into the house by three Muslim soldiers."

"On the 27th of March, they came again. I made coffee, as the housekeeper told me to. Then the three soldiers ordered me to another room. I knew their names: Safet, Serd and Ibro, boys of 20 years, all three from the village of Glogove. When I entered the room, the soldiers told me to strip off, lie down on the bed and have sex with them. I started protesting. I tried to free myself. At one point, I tried to jump through the window; this was upstairs. Safet caught me and started to beat me on the face and body. Then all three started to beat me and take off my clothes. That's how they stripped me naked. Safet was the first to rape me. After that, Serd and Ibro raped me as well."

Vehida's quiet, measured voice continues, weakened only by her swollen mouth. She holds back tears and stares into the lawyer's eyes. She remains outwardly calm. "By the end, I was unconscious. I came round before dawn. I realised that I was alone and naked, and the door of the room was open. The rape started around eight in the evening. I don't know when they left the room."

"At first, I couldn't stand up. Then I dressed, and went to find the housekeeper. When I found her I told her what had happened, but she just laughed at me. In the morning, Commander Oric came back, so I told him what his comrades had done to me. He hit me and swore at me."

Vehida Dedic's only culpability had been to trust those around her. Now, she was to be victimised by all. "I went to the Muslim police, to complain to them. But when I told them what happened, they shouted 'Get out of here!' and threw me out of the police station. 'You have complained to Naser', they said 'If he didn't help you, nobody can!'"

Naser Oric, the 24 year-old army commander of Srebrenica, first came to prominence in March, 1993. At that time, the charismatic UNPROFOR General, Philippe Morillon, demanded that - if the town was to become a so-called "safe area" - then Naser Oric must hand over his weapons to the Canadian UNPROFOR troops. Oric dismissed the demand and halted the evacuation of the town's women and children. Faced with angry demonstrations as the townsfolk stampeded on to UN trucks, the Muslim commander said that he would "screw up those convoys", preferring to maintain a human shield of 9,000 civilians for Srebrenica's 8,000 fighters.

Once she had been publicly victimised, Vehida Dedic had no future in Srebrenica. But she had the idea to escape, inspired by two other rape survivors, from a chance encounter: "I met two girls who had been in Bratunac and wanted to get back to Srebrenica, in a prisoner exchange. Their nicknames were Ceca and Buba. They came from the village of Tegere. They told me that they were okay in Bratunac, but when they came back to Srebrenica they had both been raped. When they complained to the police like I did, the police told them to go to Naser."

Vehida persuaded a girlfriend, Serifa, to come with her on the five mile walk across the front-line, to Bratunac. But by this time - under Naser Oric's instructions, and with the active compliance of the UN - Srebrenica had effectively become a prison. The walk was almost suicidal. "The only way out was down the main road from Srebrenica to Bratunac. If we went into the hills, someone could have shot us. There were Muslim positions there. We could have found some Muslim soldiers who could have killed us. So we went down the street."

"Myself and Serifa walked out from Srebrenica. But, when we came to the UN guards, they prevented us from going on and told us that they would shoot at us. They were very short with us. They ordered us to go back to Srebrenica ... but we didn't want to go."

"So the two of us agreed to bypass the UN guards. We crossed a stream about five kilometres from their post and went on our way to Serbian territory ... where the Serbian soldiers were posted. At about half past twelve we reached their positions. A Serb soldier saw us and beckoned. Then we saw that we were in the middle of a minefield. We asked the soldier to come and take us out ... so that we didn't step on a mine. He came and took us to the Serb guns. The Serb soldiers gave us gave us food. Then they took us to Bratunac by car. Sarifa was taken to hospital, she was pregnant."

The lawyer completes his notes. The statement is concluded. But now, what will happen to Vehida? What can be done for someone so totally dispossessed? "In no way would I ever go back to Srebrenica ... I want, if I can, to stay here and live in Bratunac. But if they won't let me, I'll go on, to Valjevo, to see my grandmother ... she's called Dessa Mehmedovic."

But no-one knew if Dessa Mehmedovic was still alive.


The village where this poor girl is from,Bratunac, is where the ICTY found many of the 2,000 bodies it uncovered in and around Srebrenica. Nasir Oric remains living openly in Tuzla operating a nightclub for SFOR occupation forces.

1 Posted on 01/16/2001 08:48:16 PST by vooch
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To: Holite, Lent, sjrobbins, crazykatz, serbianfire

Bmp

2 Posted on 01/16/2001 08:48:56 PST by vooch
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To: vooch

I have not understood why the US took the side of Muslims against the Serbs, but this post clears it up for me. Nasir Oric protects rape, no wonder Clinton likes him.

3 Posted on 01/16/2001 09:13:03 PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: vooch

We knew where that piece of sh*t was but were ordered only to monitor his movements, just like we did light monitoring on the movements of all the foreign Muhajine....even when they tried to blow up the Catholic Pope. We were under orders not to interfere with them....just monitor. Could have waked the scum in a couple of days. SFOR is almost as panzy as KFOR.

4 Posted on 01/16/2001 09:41:51 PST by Ketuzov
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To: vooch

...the Muslim commander said that he would "screw up those convoys", preferring to maintain a human shield of 9,000 civilians for Srebrenica's 8,000 fighters.

Oric and his troops are not only SAVAGES, but COWARDS AS WELL!!! And they victimized their OWN PEOPLE--raping young girls and using men, women, and children civilians as human shields for their heinous and gruesome activities!

It is surprising that some "Western" newspapers in the mid-1990's (even the Washington Post--as you posted elsewhere today) would print the TRUTH about Oric and Srebrenica. Nowadays, they print lies about how the "Srebrenica massacre" means that the whole Serbian people must be made to deal with their guilt. But the REAL Srebrenica massacre was carried out by Oric and his cutthroat savages.

5 Posted on 01/16/2001 10:08:37 PST by Honorary Serb
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To: Honorary Serb

I really believe it was Nasir. Did you know that he has films of his some of his massacres?

6 Posted on 01/16/2001 15:05:54 PST by crazykatz
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To: Ketuzov


21 posted on 09/03/2002 1:52:06 PM PDT by smokegenerator
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To: crazykatz; Destro; joan; Tropoljac
I have a friend who has tapes of them taking a then croat-held Serb village...taking two HVO prisoners and treating their wounds...grisly with the sound of sniper and cries of pain is heard with the military ambulance rushing the serbs and croats out of this hotzone...
22 posted on 09/03/2002 2:19:01 PM PDT by smokegenerator
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To: DTA
Humanitarian warriors lies are in full swing. There are plans to establish sister-town relationship between NYC and Srebrenica. Smearing memory of the dead amounts to killing 911 victims for the second time.

New York should really establish a sister-city relationship with Belgrade! Both of these cities had innocent civilians bombed and killed to benefit islamic jihadists and supremacists. Moreover, some pictures of bombarded bulidings in New York and Belgrade look very similar.

In the case of New York, the jihadists did the bombing and killing directly. In the case of Belgrade, "humanitarian warriors" did the bombing and killing on behalf of the jihadists. The self-styled "humanitarian warriors" are really New World Order imperialists, working hand-in-glove with the international islamic jihad. Of course, the NWO action only served to further the cause of the jihad, which is an imperialist, world-domination scheme of its own!

A sister-city relationship with Belgrade will do New Yorkers a world of good!! New York contains many NWO operatives and hangers-on, who are anti-Serbian and neo-imperialist to the core. But it also contains many much more down-home people, like the firefighters and police who did most of the rescue and recovery work on 9/11, as well as the doctors, nurses, paramedics, and ordinary citizens who cared for the survivors and their families. It will do that latter group of people a lot of good to identify with their Serbian counterparts, and to cut through the lies and arrogance of New York's NWO elitists of Wall Street and the media!!!!

23 posted on 09/03/2002 3:05:23 PM PDT by Honorary Serb
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: Honorary Serb
It is interesting how liberal bleeding hearts are insensitive to real massacre of people in and around Srebrenica and at the same time ready to propagate lies and fabrications, even after 9-11.

IMHO it shows their racist mindset and authoritarian personality type.

25 posted on 09/04/2002 6:46:42 AM PDT by DTA
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To: DTA
It is interesting how liberal bleeding hearts are insensitive to real massacre of people in and around Srebrenica and at the same time ready to propagate lies and fabrications, even after 9-11.....IMHO it shows their racist mindset and authoritarian personality type.

Not only are they racist (i.e., Serbophobic) and authoritarian/imperialist (thinking that they know the "only right way" for everyone in the world to think and behave), but they are inexplicably pro-muslim, even after 9/11!!!!

With all the shilling these people do for "the religion of peace", muslim propagandists hardly have to do any work at all!!! And with all the ways that they set up American spiritual seekers for conversion to islam (i.e., the North Carolina Sells-authored "Quran lesson", those "understanding islam" session set up by municipalities, universities, public school systems, etc.), islamic "evangelists" have had a very easy time of it since 9/11.

Do these so-called "liberal bleeding heart humanitarians" want the West to commit suicide? Do those of them in leadership positions in mainline churches want Christianity to commit suicide? These birds should not be allowed to impose their suicidal impulses on the rest of us!!!!

26 posted on 09/04/2002 7:56:19 AM PDT by Honorary Serb
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To: Honorary Serb
>>>>>Do these so-called "liberal bleeding heart humanitarians" want the West to commit suicide?<<<<<

Yes. The same as it was during communism. They seek destruction of the Western societies and use jihadists as a prybar and sledgehammer in hope they will stay at the helm. What those pshychopaths can not see is that their heads will be impalled on a jihadist banner first once the job is done.

27 posted on 09/04/2002 8:24:09 AM PDT by DTA
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