by Vildana SELIMBEGOVIC
Diagnoses provided by Dr. Izudin Pintol and Dr. Dino Kajtaz, signed in the Mostar hospital, indicate that this was a savage beating. After the recovery the SDA activist and one of the first members of the party's leadership visited the party's headquarters to obtain further instructions. He returned fairly disappointed to Nevesinje, but that was not even the first disappointment in the party whose ideals he supported. Somewhat earlier, he had a meeting with Omer Behmen, who condemned him for drinking a glass of whiskey. Of course, this was not enough for Naida's husband to ignore his party's instructions. On April 3 1992, on its closed session, the SDA concluded that war was imminent and that it was necessary to lead the nation in defense of the country. The whole family was in Nevesinje at that point.
Chronology of destruction: "My husband was arrested the for first time on April 14, 1992. He was arrested by special forces soldiers from Nis. Believe me, there were so many different units in Nevesinje during 1991 and in early 1992 that each one of 3,500 pre-war residents ended up very skilled in distinguishing between different units. However, he was lucky that day. Nikola Kurtovic was in the same group of arrested residents of Nevesinje, ethnic Croats and Bosniaks. He was an uncle of pilot Gaga, who was, together with General Perisic, one of the key people of the former Yugoslav Army in Hercegovina. Thanks to Kurtovic, all those who were captured on that day and taken to Konak in Mostar, were released, although my husband was again beaten. After his return, we moved to my father's house. We felt safer there because the house was, relatively speaking, in a Muslim quarter of the town. I saw my husband for the last time on April 16, at about quarter to three in the afternoon. Three Serb policemen, led by the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs led in turn by Rodoljub Deric, a local policemen whom they addressed by "commander", came in front of my father's house and took away my husband. I am still searching for his remains. All I know I heard from other residents of Nevesinje who have been marked on that day because many distinguished people from Nevesinje were simply taken away. Fahrija told me that my husband was bleeding when they took him into the town police station."
While she talks about the tragedy of her husband, Naida looks straight at me. Her memories are hurtful and her face cannot hide that. Nevertheless, the sentences flow, with difficulty, but they follow one another. At the time when the story reaches her personal tragedy, her face twists into a painful expression and she falls silent for a moment.
"I was raped. Everything started on that same April 14 and the first arrest of my husband. My father's house became my worst prison. The same day they came and took away my husband, another group stayed behind and tortured me. All of that took place in the house of my father, in front of my parents, family members who had come from Mostar to seek shelter, and my children. I do not know how many times I was raped that day. Perhaps, one day my neighbors who stood around the fence will tell me who the rapists were. Perhaps Goran Kovacic will tell me that, as later I saw one of my torturers on his balcony. In Nevesinje everyone is a witness of every crime. It's a small town. Perhaps this will also be important to you. I was threatened by rape as early as June 1991. Some Bogdanovic called me in the street, probably because of my husband's political activism, a Turk, a Balija and said that I would be raped. That means that they had a detailed plan about what they would do, doesn't it? Starting with April 14 they were coming to the house and maltreating me. I was raped until June 25, 1992. Then they let me go to the free territory with the message - to let Balijas see what their women would look like once Serbs finish with them. I weighed 42 kilograms [about 90 pounds]. I was a living corpse."
Collection of lies: Naida is a tall and pretty woman even after everything she's been through. She was treated first in Mostar, where she stayed for almost a whole year, until June 7, 1993. Then she went to Germany. Today she is in Sarajevo and is still undergoing medical therapy. She had a medical operation at the gynecological clinic, which physicians considered to be necessary due to the torture she had undergone. Her medical record also contains this remark: extremely watchful mother, one gets the impression that only that keeps her alive. Nevertheless, Naida is grateful to the doctors from Kosevo who, as she says, received her well and are taking care of her health. But doctors are not omnipotent. It turned out that their reports and documentation about hospitalization were not enough for Ms. Celebija-Arifhodzic, who expected to see Naida at a court hearing regarding the return of her property at the time she was undergoing treatment. Ms. Arifhodzic took another step in the application of the Sarajevo declaration and issued an eviction order that was supposed to be carried out within 15 days and without the right to alternative accommodation?!
"While I was in Mostar, on December 31, 1992, I met Bakir Izetbegovic. That was during a visit by Mr. Alija Izetbegovic, after I expressed a wish to see him. As their schedule had been already filled, I met Bakir and he told me: 'Father sends his best wishes; you and your children are his concern and obligation. Father is aware of the contribution of your late husband.' That meant a lot to me. When I was in Germany, we had intermittent contacts. Then reis Mustafa ef. Ceric came to Bonn, in June 1997 and called a meeting of Bosniaks in the mosque in Cologne. I went to the meeting. He said: 'Bosniak brothers, Bosnia is your mother. Germany is your step mother. Do not allow that Germans chase you away; be proud and return to Bosnia. A stepmother can never love as much as the mother can.' And I returned in August and they found me an apartment, the one they are evicting me from. I do not have a problem with the fact that the pre-war tenant has submitted a request for the return of the apartment, I was aware of that. But, I was in hospital when they brought court summons to the apartment. I did not personally receive any of them. They left them with the neighbors or in the mailbox. I was in hospital between September 2000 and the end of February 2001. I justified every failure to appear at a court hearing with notes from the psychiatric clinic. In the meantime, I tried to find a solution for my problem. I talked to the leading SDA officials, counting that they were aware that I had become a victim because of my husband's political activism in the party and that they owed me assistance to get rehabilitated as much as possible."
Naida needed full three months to arrange a meeting with Halid Genjac who, as she says, "never demonstrated any trace of will to understand my troubles". She also approached Mirsad Ceman, then Osman Brka, who was always willing to listen but would also always respond that he was unable to help. Former commander of the Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina Army General Rasim Delic, Naida testifies, told her that according to the documents she had about the participation of her husband in the preparation of resistance to the aggression her husband had contributed more to the defense of Bosnia-Hercegovina than he had himself. But, Naida's husband does not even have a military rank. At some point there was a mention of the Golden Lily decoration. Bakir Izetbegovic once told her to urgently bring documents. Another time he told her: "Daddy gets upset every time he talks to you, and today he is not feeling well."
Savo's message: The current commander of the Federation Army, General-Colonel Atif Dudakovic, when he heard Naida's story, had a very direct response: "It's not the question whether your status should be resolved or not. I want to know why it hasn't been resolved yet." The head of the Appeals Commission, Colonel Himzo Ezic tried to find an answer to that question. He took Naida's documents and humbly admitted that the Defense Ministry and the Federation Army could not resolve her case. Ezic's excuse was brutally clear. Naida owns real estate, houses, which means that the Army could not give her one of its apartments. And Colonel Ezic has no jurisdiction over apartments. Ms. Celebija-Arifhodzic is in command there. She signed the eviction notice which includes the infamous statement about the nonexistence of the right to alternative accommodation.
There is probably an article in some law somewhere that Ms. Celebija-Arifhodzic would use to justify her decision. Besides this would not be the first time she evicted a shehid [martyr fallen for Islam] family on the street, or a disabled war veteran, failing to issue even an eviction notice.
Ms. Arifhodzic simply likes being commended for her hard work on the implementation of the Sarajevo declaration even though the OHR had to warn her about illegal manner of that implementation (Dani has already written about that. Ms. Celebija-Arifhodzic has promised to answer our questions, once she is finished with her obligations, which obviously still haven't ended).
Of course, no one has the right to accuse Ms. Celebija-Arifhodzic for such hard work on the implementation of laws. Perhaps she only deserves criticism because her diligence is not implemented in the same way as that of others. And we especially do not have the right to compare her with her colleague from Nevesinje, certain Sava Kovacevic, municipal minister for refugees, who on time sent Naida notes explaining that her houses are used for accommodation by two and six families, respectively. In the direct contact, Ms. Kovacevic was very clear. She cannot bring herself to throw a Serb woman and a Serb child out on the street. Therefore, the property will not be returned. Naida intends to sell the properties because she is afraid of returning to Nevesinje. The only remaining thing for Naida is hope provided by the mayor of the municipality Centar Sarajevo Ljubisa Markovic who promised to resolve this legal nonsense in some way. There hasn't been anything left to say about the attitude of the society towards the civilian victims of war, about the attitude of the SDA with respect to its activists, about the attitude of the state with respect to the families of those who lost lives defending it, for a while now. If there ever was something that could be said about all that, it has been lost in the meantime.