Nada Sevo, mayor of Prijedor
Every Committed Crime Must Be Prosecuted
interview by B.KAHRIMANOVIC
Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, September 29, 2001
OSLOBODJENJE: It is easily noticeable that the process of return and of processing of property related submissions by the pre-war ethnic Bosniak and Croat inhabitants of the Prijedor municipality has intensified. Are you and your collaborators to be credited for these changes, or are they a result of several converging factors?
NADA SEVO: It is our duty to implement property laws and we courageously addressed those problems. At the same time, there was a change in the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons, and we also wanted to finally get rid of the bad image plaguing the Prijedor municipality. I must say that we sincerely addressed he problems of the refugees and displaced population in the Prijedor municipality. Mistakes were made, both sides were dissatisfied because of some of these mistakes... Fortunately, now we know how to resolve those problems, how to protect people who are returning to their homeland from trouble, how to secure peace and safety in the houses and apartments they are returning to.
No Money For Accommodation
How are you able to address the needs of 16,000 returnees and as many refugees living in Prijedor and vicinity?
We do not differentiate between those two populations. All of them have been through a lot, been forced to abandon their property and now want to return and resolve their problems. We are trying to convince the competent ministries to assist us in that process. As far as the return of property is concerned, we need alternative accommodation. We cannot say that we have received notable assistance by the ministry because so far we haven't received a single dollar for alternative accommodation. As far as refugees are concerned, those whose property has been destroyed receive special treatment. We have been visiting municipalities in the Federation BH with which we have good relations and exchange information, and finally, give priority to the returnees willing to go back to their pre-war homes in the Federation BH. That is the right way to resolve these problems.
Are you aware of the number of plots allocated to the families of refugees living in Prijedor?
There are a lot of assertions regarding that number. Some claim that as many as 3,700 were given out for free, but that is not true. I believe that some quarters are trying to set up cover for something they may do in the future, ignoring the city hall. As far as I know, 1,360 plots were allocated to the refugees, and construction has started on 540 of those plots. Now we are revisiting those decisions to find out in how many cases the construction of family homes has actually started. No one has received a plot for free. All of them are obliged to pay the land and rent for the building they are constructing after a certain time.
Recently, it has been noted that you and your collaborators have been attending virtually all ceremonies marking completion of construction of family homes, schools etc., both in Prijedor (where these buildings are reconstructed for Bosniaks) and in Sanski Most (where they are being reconstructed for Serb returnees). Is the consciousness of those who previously did not consider return changing?
Indeed, we are offering our support to the returnees and demonstrating our dedication to the return. I believe that the return can be a mode of solution of this difficult crisis. Recently in Sanski Most I said that Prijedor cannot resolve 17,000 problems of the refugees and displaced persons [i.e. settle Serb refugees from the Federation BH]. That means that the future for all of them lies in return to their prewar homes. People are also changing their views. Politicians should demonstrate something, so that people can trust a new concept. Let me mention the example of Grahovo. Ninety eight percent of prewar inhabitants of Grahovo want to return to their prewar homes. I saw that information with the mayor of Grahovo, on his desk, a document with names, surnames, and signatures of all those wishing to return. We shall really support their intentions. Any assistance they ask from us, we shall offer.
What are the most important goals of the Prijedor municipality in the near future?
We are currently working on several projects. Naturally, we are seeking the support of international organizations in creating new jobs. We have people who have been unemployed for 35 years. What are they supposed to be waiting for? We are trying to implement pilot programs and create new jobs. Another urgent issue is that of dumps of old medications in the Prijedor municipality. The third problem is that of water supplies, and we have been working on it for a while now. We soon expect the final response regarding that from Sarajevo.
Prijedor police has recently announced that three criminal suits have been filed against you. What is that about?
The first suit has to do with a decision of the local council in Prijedor that has passed three "filters" of expert services before reaching my desk. There are no criminal deeds in that case. Given respect for institutions, we will talk with the Police and clarify all the uncertainties. We don't want to "stick out". The second suit has to do with some apartments, which actually have never been allocated to anyone. The public prosecutor has the obligation to thoroughly investigate all allegations, instead of immediately issuing indictments. The third suit has to do with the Vuckovic brothers, who were taken to the Hague by mistake. Following a suggestion by the OSCE, the local assembly gave them a plot for free, and after a year and a half, the local assembly reversed its decision. I have nothing to do with any of that. Therefore, this confusion will be clarified.
Condolences for Victims
As we speak, the exhumation of remains of civilian victims, Bosniaks, our fellow residents of Prijedor, from the mass grave in Jakarina Kosa near Ljubija is ongoing. The number of exhumed victims has exceeded one hundred. Have you considered, as a mayor, visiting this mass grave and paying respect to these innocently slain fellow residents of Prijedor?
Every normal person must feel compassion for so many victims. Honestly, I haven't thought about visiting that location. I've just been informed about the number of the victims you've mentioned.
Feel free to respond with your own views regarding the next question. Do you agree that all persons indicted for war crimes should be tried by competent judicial institutions, including our fellow residents of Prijedor?
Absolutely! No one is entitled to commit crimes on my behalf. As a human being, I refuse to allow that. Every adult should be held responsible for his or her actions. Every committed crime must be prosecuted. That is universal justice, if it's good for anything, for those who are not among us anymore.
In Focus
Evil Known As SDS
by Zija DIZADEREVIC
Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, November 7, 2001
The Serb Democratic Party has been created and continues its existence as a promoter of rigid Greater Serbian ideology, Eastern Orthodox Christian fundamentalism, religious intolerance, and chauvinist hegemonism. From the very beginnings it was obvious that the SDS was against Bosnia-Hercegovina, anti-Bosniak and anti-Croat. The SDS is ideological and political product of the aggression and genocide committed by the their brothers in blood from Serbia and Montenegro. The Hague indictments testify about their character and "achievements". The founders of the SDS are either on wanted posters or in solitary confinement - Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik, Biljana Plavsic... With such SDS and such personalities, Bosnia-Hercegovina has entered the postwar democratization and normalization, which was a fatefully dangerous idea. The SDS was created and continuously acts on the basis of the negative political idea and urge to eliminate everything non-Serb. The result is genocide, unprecedented physical and psychological torture of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children; the rest were expelled, some of them forever, from BH. The Republic of Srpska (RS) is the embodiment of the evil that is SDS. The postwar policy of the SDS, with consensus of almost all political forces in RS, is solely preoccupied with perpetuating the results of the aggression and genocide. With all means, they are preventing the return of expelled individuals to their homes; at the same time they continue with theft of land and other property, terror against the returnees and all sorts of discrimination. Ideology and political practice of the SDS are intertwined from its very beginnings with theft, smuggling, racketeering, robbery of every kind. The victims of SDS's parasitism are the very Serbs in RS. The return of the SDS in the executive authorities has resulted in further political, economic, legal and moral degradation of RS. The SDS is a multidimensionally crime-producing creation, which spreads cancer and pollution everywhere around itself. Claims that elimination of the SDS would not be a democratic act are nonsense, because the very existence of the SDS is nothing but a denial of democracy.
In Focus
Not The Same
by Zija DIZDAREVIC
Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, November 14, 2001
"In Bosnia-Hercegovina, Radovan Karadzic is Bin Laden." This striking statement made by Zlatko Lagumdzija in New York stirred Karadzic's followers in the Republic of Srpska (RS). Spokesperson of the Serb National Alliance (SNS) Vinko Lolic expressed surprise at Lagumdzija's comparison of Karadzic and Bin Laden, emphasizing that Karadzic was a legal representative of the Serb nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Lolic referred to the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina as a civil war. The indictments from the Hague clearly indicate that the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina was an aggression and genocide, as is confirmed by the agreement of the International Justice Tribunal in the Hague to accept the suit of Bosnia-Hercegovina against FR Yugoslavia. Karadzic may have been a legal representative, but only until he started forming illegal anti-Bosnian authorities and creating other conditions for the aggression on Bosnia-Hercegovina by Serbia and Montenegro, led by the former Yugoslav People's Army. To consider Karadzic for a legal representative of the Serb nation even after that is nothing but an endorsement of and identification with the committed crimes. Lolic included Alija Izetbegovic in the story. According to Lolic, Izetbegovic said that "he would sacrifice peace for undivided Bosnia-Hercegovina". However, he failed to mention that previously Karadzic threatened the extermination of the Bosniak nation. The commentary by Branko Peric published in the Banja Luka daily Nezavisne Novine is also indicative. Peric compared Milosevic, Tudman and Izetbegovic, [claiming they share responsibility for the war], and thereby compared something that can never be compared. The goal of Slobodan Milosevic was the destruction of Bosnia-Hercegovina and extermination of Bosniaks. Franjo Tudman joined him in that endeavor. FR Yugoslavia had the concept of aggression and genocide and there were military forces that were used to achieve those goals. In the meantime the Croatian Army entered Bosnia-Hercegovina. Izetbegovic was a legally elected president of the Bosnian Presidency, which commanded the legal defense of the internationally recognized and militarily unprotected Bosnian state. That does not automatically absolve Izetbegovic of possible responsibility, but he can under no circumstances be accused of aggression on Bosnia-Hercegovina and the concept of genocide, as can be done with Milosevic, Karadzic, and even Tudman. What the three of them did cannot be the same as what Izetbegovic did.
Mustafa Bisic responds to Dusko Tomic's charges
"These Are His Dirty Games, And Tribunal Will Know How To Respond..."
by Edina KAMENICA
Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, November 10, 2001
"Dusko Tomic's charges and alleged charges by Aleksandar Kontic (I say alleged, because I have learned about them indirectly) are simply not true," we heard on Friday from the Sarajevo canton prosecutor Mustafa Bisic regarding the open letter of the secretary of the Children's Embassy to the chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, Carla Del Ponte. Tomic yet again accused Bisic of "dirty games with the Ristovic case," emphasizing that this was a war crime, rather than a revenge attack, as the indictment in the case charges. In the letter, the chief prosecutor was informed that the legal advisor of the Hague Tribunal Aleksandar Kontic (Tomic claims that Kontic is a fervent supporter of the Serb Democratic Party), told the federal prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic that Bisic, allegedly, never informed the tribunal about the Ristovic case (murder of a six member family, including a child, a boy, committed by members of the reserve police units in mid 1992). However, Tomic continues, Kontic (after the federation prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic asked him to forward him the fax with relevant facts) wrote something else, again warning that Bisic hadn't sent the Ristovics case file to the Hague. "Just the opposite. On September 20 last year, aware of the sensitive nature of the case, I requested the opinion of the Hague prosecutor's office regarding the Ristovics case." In 1993, the then prosecutor of the higher public prosecutor's office, Ivica Stanic, qualified [the crime] as a revenge killing. Namely, on June 8 (1992), after the burial of Adnan Hodzic, his cousins Osman and Mirsad, together with Meho Obrisevic and Admir Adilovic, in order to avenge murdered Adnan (states the indictment) came to Gornji Velesici, in front of the house of Obren Ristovic... During the first trial, conducted during the war, Mirsad Hodzic was described as a mentally disturbed person and assigned mandatory psychological treatment, while an arrest warrant was issued for the other two murderers. The only data on the warrant was the names of the suspects. Officially, nothing else was known about them. When in 1997 Mustafa Bisic became the cantonal prosecutor, he initiated, he claims, activities with the goal of full identification of the two suspects. After that they were indicted. Why did Bisic keep the revenge killing charges from the original indictment? "According to the old laws, the prosecutor cannot change the charges in the original indictment unless new information about the crime has been obtained in the meantime, because that would constitute a violation of the rights of the defendants. The charges in the indictment can be changed only if the prosecutor learns about new facts, and I was not in such situation," Bisic answers. In his letter to Del Ponte, Tomic recalls recent testimonies by the former Chief of Staff of the Army of Bosnia-Hercegovina Sefer Halilovic, and the current head of the AID Munir Alibabic, claiming that according to them, the murder of the Ristovics was a clear example of a war crime against Serb civilians. "The Ristovics had previously been robbed, questioned by the police, and then ruthlessly murdered while sitting in their dining room," Tomic writes. Bisic, on the other hand, emphasizes: "Their statement did not in any way assist in the clarification of the crime. No important new facts were mentioned. By the way, no prosecutor in the Federation BH can on his own, without the agreement by the Hague Tribunal, modify the indictment. I approached the Tribunal and specifically asked whether in this particular case there was a violation of the international humanitarian law, given the time, mode and circumstances of the crime," Bisic claims, emphasizing that on October 5, 2001, he received a reply from the Hague. "Briefly, their reply was to proceed without changes." Tomic wrote to Del Ponte that her legal advisor Kontic had claimed that the case was never considered, or a decision made "because the charges in the indictment are for reckless revenge, rather than a war crime, and consequently need not be considered by the Hague Tribunal based on the Rome Rules of the road." Bisic prefers not to comment on that particular assertion. According to him it not only illustrates utter lack of understanding of the work of the tribunal "but, as such, is offensive for the Hague Tribunal", which, Bisic warns, has the right to modify every indictment. The reply to Bisic from the Hague Tribunal stated that "the case does not fall under the Rome Rules of the road... Since that is the case, the prosecutor's office returns this file, without taking a stand on the validity of evidence..." Therefore, the case file received the "grade" E in the Hague, which is, among other, thus explained in the Rome Rules of the road: "The prosecutor believes that the stated facts do not indicate that the case falls under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal..." Tomic also claims that Bisic sent to the Hague only two documents regarding the Ristovics case, "two deficient wartime sentences." Bisic denies that as well, and claims that the tribunal was sent six documents, from 1993, 1994, 2000...
Translated on October 3, 2002
