SREBRENICA WOMEN OUTRAGED BY SENTENCE; 'LET HIM COME (HERE) . . . AND WE WILL GIVE HIM JUSTICE.'
By Aida Cerkez-Robinson

August 3, 2001 – (AP article in The Chronicle-Herald – Nova Scotia) Suhra Malic spat at the television screen as she watched the UN war crimes court sentence a Bosnian Serb general to 46 years in prison for his role in genocide against Muslims in the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica.

No sentence can return her two sons and 13 other family members, executed by forces under Gen. Radislav Krstic's command.

"Let him come (here)," she said, "and we will give him justice."

Malic and six other women from Srebrenica gathered in an office on the outskirts of Sarajevo to watch the hourlong reading of the verdict delivered in The Hague, Netherlands, hoping for words to ease their suffering.

At times, when cameras showed Krstic's face, Malic would break the silence and shout: "Drop dead!"

Other women chimed in: "Human trash!" "May you burn in hell!" Then the room would quiet, apart from an occasional sob.

The United Nations had designated Srebrenica a safe haven for thousands of Bosnian Muslims living in an area surrounded by Bosnian Serbs. The safe haven was under the protection of Dutch UN peacekeepers.

But Bosnian Serb forces under Krstic's command overran the enclave on July 11, 1995, expelling the entire Muslim population. Bosnian Serb forces separated men and teenage boys from the rest of the population. Up to 8,000 men and boys disappeared and are believed killed.

Hundreds of mass graves have been found in the area, and 4,800 bodies have been exhumed. Only about 100 victims have been identified.

The suffering of the women is displayed on the office walls of an association called Mothers of Srebrenica, which is dedicated to resolving the fate of the missing and dead. Photos of lost sons, brothers and husbands line the room.

All the women are refugees, unable to return to homes occupied by the Bosnian Serbs who expelled them. Though they visit their home town occasionally, they say they will not return while those they believe are guilty remain there.

Instead they waited to see justice done by the court, and watched the session Thursday in hopes Krstic would receive the tribunal's maximum sentence - life in prison. Screams of outrage erupted when the verdict was read.

"For 10,000 of our sons, only 46 years!" said Behara Hasanovic. "His people have ripped my son from my arms."

Nedzma Salihovic sobbed, the tears staining her white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: Srebrenica: The Missing Are Not Forgotten.

Malic lost two teenage sons in the massacre. Pictures of both hang on the wall.

"In that nice jail, he will receive visits from his family. He will see them. What about me?" she said weeping. "I have not even found their bones yet."