Personal testimony · Sase · 1992
Meliha Merdžić: Eight Bones Found of Her Brother, Still Searching for Her Father
Meliha Merdžić, née Jašarević, was thirteen years old when her sixteen-year-old brother Muhamed and her father Asim were killed in 1992 in the village of Sase near Višegrad. After Lake Perućac was drained, eight of her brother's bones were found, and she buried them in Vlakovo. She is still searching for her father and eleven other relatives from Sase.
Sase in the Spring of 1992
Meliha Merdžić, née Jašarević, grew up in Sase, a village above Višegrad in eastern Bosnia. In the spring of 1992, her father Asim Jašarević, an employee of the company "ŽGP", could not get to work because barricades had cut off the road to Goražde, so he returned home.
According to Meliha's testimony, local Serbs from Sase soon began to harass the family: they searched the house and demanded money, gold and men. The men hid in the forest. According to his daughter, Asim Jašarević was beaten during questioning at the police station, and Meliha names Željko Lelek as the man who beat him.
The Day Muhamed Was Killed
While the killing took place, thirteen-year-old Meliha was hidden in a food storage pit next to the house. She heard her brother being killed but did not see it. According to her testimony, Milan Lukić ordered her mother to bring the knife with which her sixteen-year-old son Muhamed was to be killed. According to her, Muhamed was killed after money had been demanded from him. Radio Free Europe later reported that the boy was killed before his mother's eyes.
According to Meliha's testimony, her mother was afterwards taken to Vilina Vlas.
The exact dates of the killings are not known; they took place in 1992, before the middle of June.
The Death of Her Father
A few days later her father Asim was also killed while trying to hide. According to information the family received only in 1996, he was shot near Dubovo by a local villager, who, as the family learned, later committed suicide.
Leaving Višegrad
In mid-June 1992, Meliha and her mother left Višegrad with the assistance of the Red Cross and went to Visoko.
Eight Bones
After Lake Perućac was drained, the remains of Muhamed Jašarević were found – eight bones. Meliha buried them in Vlakovo. Sources differ on the year of the discovery and burial: according to Meliha's testimony, it happened in 2013, while Radio Free Europe reported as early as February 2012 that Meliha Merdžić had finally been able to bury her sixteen-year-old brother.
"I would give everything for him to be alive," Meliha Merdžić said of her brother.
The Search Continues
The remains of Asim Jašarević have not been found. According to Meliha, villagers who know where the grave is refuse to reveal it. Besides her father, she is still searching for eleven relatives from Sase who are listed as missing.
Meliha Merdžić speaks publicly as a survivor of the crimes in Višegrad, including within the framework of the Udruženje žena žrtava rata (Association of Women Victims of War).
Verdicts for Crimes in Višegrad
Both men whom Meliha names in her testimony have been finally convicted for other crimes committed in Višegrad. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) finally sentenced Milan Lukić to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Višegrad. On 12 January 2009, Željko Lelek was finally sentenced by the Court of BiH to 16 years in prison for crimes against humanity in Višegrad. These verdicts do not relate to the acts that Meliha describes in connection with her brother and father.