A mother from Sušica asked the camp commander: tell me where my sons lie

The takeover of Vlasenica

On 21 April 1992, the JNA and other Serb forces took control of Vlasenica in eastern Bosnia and began expelling Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serbs. By the end of September 1992, almost all Bosnian Muslims had been expelled from Vlasenica.

The Sušica camp

Habiba Hadžić was 49 years old at the time. She was married and had two adult sons: Enis, aged 31, and Bernis, aged 29. She was detained in the Sušica camp near Vlasenica, at a former military shooting range, where civilians were held in the larger of two warehouses, the so-called hangar. Between 300 and 500 people were detained in the hangar at the same time.

According to the testimony of Habiba Hadžić, each detainee had roughly one square metre in which to sit, and they received food once a day. There was no medical care, and hygienic conditions were poor.

The camp commander was Dragan Nikolić, known as "Jenki". In the camp Habiba Hadžić was beaten, among other things with a rifle butt, which injured her arm. She had to perform household chores for Nikolić. She was forced to watch the beatings and deaths of other detainees, among them the death of Fadil Huremović. According to the portal genocid.ba, Mevludin Hatinić, who died, and Asim Zildžić, whose eye was injured, were also beaten in the camp.

Sons who remained behind the wire

When Habiba Hadžić left the camp, her sons Enis and Bernis remained there. She never saw them alive again. "They are not alive," she said later.

According to the statement of the camp commander Dragan Nikolić, both Hadžić brothers were among approximately 40 last detainees who, on 30 September 1992, when the camp was being dissolved, were taken to Debelo Brdo near Vlasenica, where they were killed and buried on the spot.

Habiba Hadžić still bears the consequences of her detention today: she stated that she has a permanently damaged right elbow and suffers from high blood sugar and heart problems.

Before the court in The Hague

On 4 September 2003, Dragan Nikolić pleaded guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to four counts of the indictment for crimes against humanity. On 3 November 2003, Habiba Hadžić testified in the sentencing proceedings. She did not seek revenge – she begged Nikolić to tell her in which mass grave her sons lie.

On 18 December 2003, the ICTY Trial Chamber sentenced Dragan Nikolić to 23 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed in the Sušica camp. On 4 February 2005, the Appeals Chamber reduced the sentence to 20 years.