by Erna Mackiq, BIRN.
On July 11, 1995, as Bosnian Serb forces landed in the UN-protected “safe area” of Srebrenica, eight-year-old Izudin Aliq was with his grandfather near the UN peacekeeping base in Potocari where thousands of Bosniaks tried to seek refuge.
“My grandfather sent me to get water and I saw a group of children. I remember seeing some soldiers handing out something. I ran and a man in a Serbian uniform touched my hair, asked my name and age and gave me some chocolates,” recalls Aliq.
“I wasn’t afraid and I didn’t know who he was. I was only interested in the chocolate and I ate it right away,” he said.
A video recording of the Bosnian Serb military commander entering Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, and handing out sweets and chocolates to children was seen around the world.
It was filmed at the beginning of a military operation that would last for days and take the lives of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys and result in the expulsion of 40,000 women, children and the elderly.
Mladic asked Aliqi what his name was and how old he was, he recalls.
“I remember telling her my name was Izudin and that I was 12 years old. I don’t know why I lied about my age. I think I wanted to be older. I don’t know. I know she told me everything would be fine, which wasn’t true,” he said.
Before the war, Alić lived in Prohic near Srebrenica, on the border with Serbia. After Serbian soldiers attacked the village in 1993, his family fled to Srebrenica, where they stayed until July 1995.
After the attack on Srebrenica, Alic went with his mother and brothers, sisters and grandparents to Potocari, while his father, uncle and cousin fled into the forest, seeking safety in the town of Tuzla, which was controlled by Bosniak forces.
“I was eight years old and when I try to remember, I don’t understand what was happening. In Potocari there was chaos, many soldiers, many men,” said Alić.
Amidst the chaos in Potocari, thousands of Bosniaks gathered trying to escape, and it was then that Aliq went to fill up with water and met Mladic.
After that, Alić spent the rest of the war in a refugee center in Tuzla and then returned to Prohici, where he still lives today.
His father and cousin did not survive the genocide for which Mladic is accused today.
“I don’t know where and how they were killed. I buried my father and uncle right after the war. They were found in Kamenica, near Zvornik. My cousin was never found,” said Aliq.
He said that today he thinks about the Mladic of those days and wonders if the former Bosnian Serb military commander, who is now on trial in The Hague, remembers him.
“I often wonder about this when I see him in The Hague. I wonder if he knew that all those men were going to be killed. My father and uncle, all of them…” he said.
Mladic is accused of being responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes. The verdict is expected in November.
“What do I feel about him? Nothing. I’m just happy that he was arrested and that he went to trial,” Aliq concluded.
“He must answer for everything he did in Srebrenica.”
Article
https://kallxo.com/gjate/reportazh/dhuratat-e-mlladiqit-per-femijet-cokollata-dhe-genjeshtra/
