ORGANIZED RAPE ASSISTS PLAN FOR 'ETHNIC CLEANSING'

January 23, 1993 – (Hamilton Spectator) Throughout the ages, rape has often been a byproduct of war, but rarely has it been practised on such a mass scale as now in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

What is unique about the tens of thousands of rapes primarily of Muslim women is that they were a goal of the Serbs' war of aggression in Bosnia, a clear strategy to assist the odious practice of "ethnic cleansing."

Dean Ajdukovic, a University of Zagreb psychologist, questions "whether anything like this has ever happened in recorded human history."

As the raped women's stories come to light a European Community body estimates at least 20,000 Bosnian women have been raped investigators grope for explanations of how this could have happened.

The answer, says Dr. Mladen Loncar, who probably knows more than anyone else about the raped women, lies in intense Serbian brainwashing that replaced normal internal inhibitions and ethics with ferocious nationalistic propaganda. Within this twisted set of values, "a man who rapes enemy women is a hero instead of a beast," said Loncar, director of the documentation centre on the rapes in the Croatian health ministry. He has interviewed 70 of the rape victims, collecting evidence that may someday be used in trials, although rape is not now considered a war crime.

"In other wars, rape most often occurred in the first moments when the aggressor entered an area," Dr. Loncar explained. "Usually when some kind of authority was established, rapes stopped. What is unique in his war is that when authority is established over the area, the number of rapes grows."

Special brothels

The designated victims are held in prison camps, or in special brothels set up for Bosnian Serb fighters. The Croatian government says at least 17 brothel-camps are still operating, despite the recent blaze of international publicity about mass rapes.

One Croatian expert claims to have seen written orders directing Bosnian Serb irregulars to rape Croat and Muslim women during their territorial conquests. But Loncar doubts the Bosnian Serbs who have seized 70 per cent of the territory in the former Yugoslav republic would be stupid enough to put such directives in writing.

Whether written orders exist, rape is clearly part of the Serbs' war strategy, as numerous international investigating bodies have reported.

Also in contrast to other wartime rapes, the Bosnian crimes have usually been committed in the most public and brutal way, to underscore the message to all local inhabitants to flee.

Croatian investigators note that mothers and daughters are often raped at the same time by gangs of soldiers in front of husbands, brothers and children. Girls as young as six and women as old as 80 have been victims.

The Serbs' successful policy of ethnic cleansing has driven 1.5 million non-Serbs from their homes and villages in Bosnia. Men were often massacred or herded into inhuman prison camps.

Public, brutal rape was the coup de grace to ensure that the remaining women would never want to return to their homes.

"These women psychologically want to leave the place of the rape," said Loncar. "The possibility that they will return to this place is remote."

In the past month or so, Bosnian Serbs have released a number of Muslim women in advanced stages of pregnancy who are forced to bear unwanted children.

These women, a number of whom have made their way to Zagreb, bring a special message "we have the power to rape with impunity. You can't do anything to stop us."

In the undisciplined ranks of the non-professional soldiers fighting for a Greater Serbia, not only are there no deterrents to rape, but it is actually rewarded.

Loncar interviewed two young Serb deserters now being held in a prison in Orasje, Bosnia, who said they were ordered to rape and murder for the amusement of their commander.

Dr. Veselko Grizelj, a Zagreb gynecologist who has treated five women impregnated during rapes, finds it hard to grasp the stories his patients tell. "I ask myself how is it possible that 10 Chetniks (Serbs extremists) at the same time are all ready to perform the sexual act?"

Dr. Jarmila Skrinjaric, a psychiatrist treating four Bosnian rape victims, says the rapists often excused themselves, saying they would be shot if they did not violate the women.

However, some victims report cases where Serbs were either unable or unwilling to rape them, but begged: "If they ask, say I raped you."