Account of an event · ulica Zmaja od Bosne · November 18, 1994
Nermin Divović: a boy killed at the pedestrian crossing near Zmaja od Bosne Street
On 18 November 1994 in Sarajevo, at the pedestrian crossing near Zmaja od Bosne Street, a sniper wounded Dženana Sokolović and killed her son Nermin Divović. A ceasefire was in effect in the city that day. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) considered this incident in the case against Dragomir Milošević, commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the VRS, who was convicted by a final judgment and sentenced to 29 years in prison.
The way home
According to the portal genocid.ba, on the evening of 17 November 1994 Dženana Sokolović, together with her son Nermin and her older daughter, left besieged Sarajevo for Hrasno to fetch firewood. The next day, around noon, they were returning home to Bistrik. A ceasefire was in effect in the city that day and trams were running.
According to the same source, their route brought them to the pedestrian crossing on Franje Račkoga Street, at the point where it meets Zmaja od Bosne Street, near the Holiday Inn hotel and the Faculty of Philosophy at Marijin Dvor. The older sister walked ahead and was the first to cross the street. Nermin, as genocid.ba states, walked beside his mother and held on to her jacket. The portal writes that he was seven years old at the time.
The shot at the crossing
On Zmaja od Bosne Street, a sniper hit Dženana Sokolović and her son Nermin Divović. According to genocid.ba, the mother saw her son fall and only then realised that she herself had been wounded. According to the same source, the bullet passed through her abdomen and hit the boy in the head. Genocid.ba also states that there were no soldiers at that location and that no fighting was taking place there.
Nermin Divović succumbed to his injuries. As to when he died, genocid.ba gives two versions: the introduction of the article states that he died immediately, while the main text states that he died on the way to the hospital.
Help under fire
According to genocid.ba, two armoured personnel carriers of the French battalion of UNPROFOR arrived at the scene. An armoured ambulance of the volunteer organisation GOFRS shielded the boy's body from fire. A United Nations vehicle took Dženana Sokolović and her daughter to the Koševo hospital. The mother underwent surgery and, according to the same source, remained in hospital for seven to eight days, so she could not attend her son's funeral.
The portal states that the photograph of the murdered boy at the crossing was taken by the photographer Enric Martí and that the photograph went around the world. According to genocid.ba, John Jordan, a volunteer of the organisation GOFRS, also testified before the ICTY about sniper fire in this area.
Before the Hague Tribunal
From 10 August 1994, the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the VRS, which held Sarajevo under siege, was commanded by Dragomir Milošević. In his case, the ICTY considered the incident of 18 November 1994 as one of the instances of sniping. The Tribunal also cited this incident as an example of a violation of the ceasefire by the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps.
On 12 December 2007, the ICTY Trial Chamber sentenced Dragomir Milošević to 33 years in prison. On 12 November 2009, the Appeals Chamber reduced the sentence to 29 years. That judgment is final and relates to the campaign of sniping and shelling of civilians in Sarajevo.