Personal testimony · Omarska · May 24, 1992 – August 26, 1992
A Father Forced to Bring His Own Son: Mehmed Alić in Omarska
Mehmed Alić, a 69-year-old farmer from Kamičani near Kozarac, survived the Trnopolje, Omarska and Manjača camps in 1992. In Omarska, guards forced him to find and bring his son Enver, whom they then beat in the hangar; he never saw him alive again. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Duško Tadić by a final judgment for taking part in the beating of detainees in the hangar, including Enver Alić.
Where and when
Omarska
- Date
- May 24, 1992 – August 26, 1992
- Place
- Omarska, Manjača
- Coordinates
- 44.89° N · 16.90° E
Kamičani before the war
Mehmed Alić was a farmer from the village of Kamičani in the Prijedor municipality. In the spring of 1992 he was 69 years old. He had two grown sons: Enver, who was 44 at the time of Omarska, and Ekrem, who was 37 in 1992. He knew the Tadić family from Kozarac well. Duško Tadić, known as "Dule", president of the local board of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in Kozarac, had grown up with his sons.
The attack on Kozarac and Trnopolje
On 24 May 1992, Serb forces attacked Kozarac; the attack was preceded by artillery shelling. About two days later, around 26 May, Mehmed Alić set out with his family toward Kozarac to surrender. At Limenka the men were separated from the women and children. Elderly people, among them Mehmed Alić, were taken to Trnopolje, where the family stayed in a house with about 50 people.
In Trnopolje, Mehmed Alić learned that his son Ekrem had been killed. The circumstances, place and date of Ekrem's death are not known.
In order to feed his family, Mehmed Alić, according to his testimony, went to Kamičani several times to get food. On those trips he saw, as he testified, burned houses and dead villagers.
Capture and Omarska
On 10 June 1992, while looking for food near his village, he was captured by Serb soldiers and taken to the Omarska camp. According to his testimony, on arrival he was lined up against a wall with other detainees and beaten.
He spent four days and three nights in the open air on a concrete area that the detainees called the "pista". He was then moved to room number 15 in the hangar. There he saw his son Enver.
Enver
In June 1992 soldiers forced Mehmed Alić to find his son Enver; when he hesitated, they threatened him. In the hangar, according to his testimony, he saw a bloodied detainee, Emir Karabašić, and he himself was struck with a rifle butt and stabbed in the head with a knife, which left him with a scar.
When he found Enver, guards began to beat him in the hangar. The father listened as his son was beaten. He never saw him alive again. He expressed his pain in words that he later repeated before the court: "They have killed my son" ("Ubili su mi sina").
The ICTY established that Duško Tadić was present in the hangar when Enver Alić was called out and attacked. The court did not make an explicit finding on the death of Enver Alić; to this day it is not known whether the remains of Enver and Ekrem Alić have been found and identified.
Manjača and release
On 6 August 1992, Mehmed Alić was transferred from Omarska to the Manjača camp. He was released on 26 August 1992.
Testimony in The Hague
From 23 to 24 July 1996, Mehmed Alić testified before the ICTY in the proceedings against Duško Tadić. On 7 May 1997, the Tribunal found Tadić guilty, among other things, of the beating of detainees in the Omarska hangar, including Emir Karabašić and Enver Alić. On 26 January 2000, the ICTY Appeals Chamber imposed on him a final sentence of 20 years' imprisonment. Tadić was convicted of taking part in the beating, not of the murder of Enver Alić.