Mirsada Malagić: Srebrenica took from her her husband, two sons and three generations of the men in her family

The Fall of Srebrenica

Mirsada Malagić was born on 10 January 1959. When Srebrenica fell on 11 July 1995, she was 36 years old and pregnant. With her youngest son, then an eleven-year-old boy, and her father-in-law Omer Malagić, who was about seventy years old, she set out toward the UN base in Potočari. According to one source, she was hit in the right collarbone by a shell fragment along the way.

Her husband Salko Malagić and her son Admir went another way, toward Šušnjari and into the forests. Mirsada's brother Sadik Salihović went with them. Admir was then 15 years and 5 months old.

Mirsada last saw her son Elvir, born in 1973 in Voljavica near Bratunac, on a UNPROFOR truck on the road toward Potočari, when he waved to her. His name later appeared on a list of men whom UNPROFOR had seen on the truck.

The Days in Potočari

In Potočari, Mirsada and her son took shelter in a former office in the galvanizing factory where she had worked before the war. According to her testimony, on 12 July Serb soldiers came among the refugees, asked about men, handed out sweets to children, and took men away one by one for "questioning". In the evening, soldiers took groups of eight to ten men to a house behind the factory, from where the women heard screams. "Because of those screams and moans, we were terrified, no one could sleep," said Mirsada Malagić. When she saw a UN member tied to a vehicle, she realized that no one would protect them.

Separation and Deportation

According to one source, on 13 July General Ratko Mladić addressed the crowd at the entrance to the base and promised evacuation before dark. Buses belonging to Serb companies arrived for the deportation; before the tribunal, Mirsada named, among others, Strela, Raketa and Lasta.

As people boarded the buses, soldiers separated the men. Among them was her father-in-law Omer Malagić. According to the same source, her son-in-law Ramiz Čakar and her neighbor Salih Rizanović were also separated. According to that source, Salih was standing in the doorway with a child; a soldier ordered Mirsada's young relative to take the child to Kladanj. The girl later found the child's family, and no one ever saw Salih again.

The Journey Toward Free Territory

According to Mirsada's testimony, the bus was stopped along the way by groups of soldiers who, threatening the women with knives, took their valuables. From the bus, in a meadow near Sandići, she saw a large group of captured men. The bus continued through Nova Kasaba, Milići and Vlasenica. At Tišća, the passengers had to get out and walk to the line of separation near Kladanj.

The Men of the Malagić Family

According to news she received from relatives, Salko and Admir Malagić were last seen on the road near Konjević Polje, where Serb soldiers captured them. According to one source, her brother Sadik Salihović was also captured.

Before the tribunal in The Hague, Mirsada Malagić named her murdered relatives: her father-in-law Omer (1926), her husband Salko (1948), her brothers-in-law Osman (1953) and Džafer (1957), her son Elvir (1973), her son Admir (1979) and Samir Malagić (1975), a young man from the Malagić family. Three generations of men from one family.

Testimony and Verdicts

Mirsada Malagić testified on 3 and 4 April 2000 before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the case against Radislav Krstić, commander of the Drina Corps of the VRS. At that time she was still searching for her loved ones and said: "we're still looking for our missing, and we hope".

On 2 August 2001, the ICTY convicted Radislav Krstić of genocide and sentenced him to 46 years in prison. The Appeals Chamber delivered its final judgment on 19 April 2004; Krstić was finally convicted of aiding and abetting genocide in Srebrenica. On 8 June 2021, the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) upheld the sentence of life imprisonment for Ratko Mladić, commander of the VRS Main Staff, for, among other crimes, genocide in Srebrenica.