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Vehida's story. Brutally betrayed by trusted protectors.
By Bruno Beloff, The Scotsman, July 13, 1994
The brutality of the conflict in Bosnia-Hercegovina has been measured over the
last two bloodstained years by death and rape - rape as a military tactic for
terror and control. Now, in the chaos and lawlessness of the Muslim enclaves in
southern Bosnia, allegations of the same crime are emerging. Only a few
survivors have so far been able to testify to such behaviour.
One is Vahida (~ Vahida) Dedic who says she was raped and beaten by a gang of
men led by the Bosnian Muslim commander of Srebrenica, Naser Oric, then
rejected in her own town with no-one to turn to. For her, crossing the lines
into the hands of the Serb 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 frontline. The lawyer is present to take a
statement for Yugoslavia's own war crimes tribunal.
Vahida Dedic, visibly in pain and with one side of her face swollen with
toothache, tells her story.
"I was desperate. I realized that I couldn't live there anymore and was
thinking of committing suicide." As fighting spread across Bosnia-Hercegovina,
Vahida and her family had fled from their village of Pobudje to the nearby
Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. Vahida, initially in makeshift refugee
accommodation, found space in a house in the centre of Srebrenica. It was there
that she met the town's commander.
"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 March
27, 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. 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 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."
Vahida's quiet measured voice continues, weakened only by her swollen mouth.
She holds beck tears and stares into the lawyer's eyes. She remains outwardly
calm."By the end, I was unconscious. I came round before dawn. I realized 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."
Vahida Dedic's only culpability had been to trust those around her. Now, she
says, no-one was there to support her or assist her. "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 "safe area", Naser Oric must hand over his
weapons. 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, Oric said he would "screw up" the convoys, preferring a human
shield of 9,000 civilians for Srebrenica's 8,000 fighters.
Vahida Dedic's public ignominy meant no future for her in Srebrenica. Escape
seemed the best option. Vahida persuaded a friend, Serifa, to accompany her on
the five-mile walk across the frontline, to Bratunac. But by this time, under
Oric's instructions and with the active compliance of the UN, Srebrenica had
effectively become a prison. The girl's walk was potentially 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. So we were 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, we crossed a stream about five kilometers from the UN post and went on our
way to Serbian territory... At about half past twelve 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 food. Then they took us
to Bratunac by car. Serifa was taken to hospital, she was pregnant." The lawyer
completes his notes. The statement is concluded.
But what will now happen to Vahida? "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 [in Serbia], to see my grandmother ...
she's called Dessa Mehmetovic." But no-one knew if Dessa Mehmetovic was still
alive.
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