Edin Salaharević: the greatest hope of Yugoslav junior basketball, killed in the Sušica camp

A talent from Tuzla

Edin Salaharević lived in Tuzla and played basketball for the club Sloboda Dita. His family was from Vlasenica. He was regarded as one of the greatest hopes of Yugoslav junior basketball: he was a member of the Yugoslav junior national team and was preparing for the European Junior Championship in Poland.

Arrival in Vlasenica and the takeover of the town

According to his brother Nedim, Edin came to his family in Vlasenica for Bajram in 1992, only a few days before the town fell. On 21 April 1992, Serb forces took power in Vlasenica; according to the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, these were the JNA and paramilitary units, while according to Radio Free Europe the town was taken by the Vojska Republike Srpske (VRS).

The Salaharević family was subsequently held under house arrest. Nedim, then almost fourteen years old, later said of that time: "If there is a hell in this world, then it is that period in Vlasenica."

The Sušica camp

On 31 May 1992, Serb forces established the Sušica camp near Vlasenica, guarded by the army and police. According to the judgments of the Hague tribunal, several thousand people passed through the camp from the end of May 1992, and between 300 and 500 persons were detained in the hangar at the same time. According to Radio Free Europe, more than 8,000 people passed through Sušica from May until the end of September 1992. Detainees were regularly beaten, and toward the end of the camp's operation, on four occasions, between 140 and 150 detainees were taken away and killed.

Edin and his father Muhamed were taken to Sušica. The exact date they were taken is not known. Nedim last saw his brother before the camp.

According to Nedim's testimony, the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, the Basketball Federation of Serbia, and the clubs Partizan and Crvena zvezda unsuccessfully intervened for Edin's release. Nedim also testified that he heard Predrag Bastah state that no Salaharević would be left alive.

Edin and Muhamed Salaharević were killed in 1992. The exact date and circumstances of their deaths have not been established.

A long search

Edin's remains were found in several mass graves. According to one source, Nedim identified them in 2009, and according to another, only almost eighteen years after his brother's disappearance. According to Nedim, the remains bore traces of torture. The family was able to bury only part of the remains. Edin Salaharević was buried in Vlasenica, and his teammates came to the farewell.

The remains of his father Muhamed were found later; the information about when they were found differs. His mother Hatidža Salaharević died in April 2019.

Trials

The commander of the Sušica camp, Dragan Nikolić, known as "Jenki", pleaded guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and was sentenced to 20 years in prison; he was released in 2013.