Personal testimony · Potočari · July 11, 1995 – July 13, 1995
Testimony of a Woman from Srebrenica about Potočari in July 1995
After the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, a woman whom the archive identifies only by the initials H. T. sought refuge in Potočari, where the base of the Dutch UNPROFOR battalion was located. According to her testimony, VRS soldiers raped her there, and the men of her family were killed while trying to reach territory controlled by the ARBiH through the forest. She was able to speak about what she had survived only after many years.
Flight to Potočari
When the forces of the Vojska Republike Srpske (VRS) took Srebrenica in July 1995, H. T., according to her own testimony, set out for Potočari, where the base of the Dutch UNPROFOR battalion (Dutchbat) was located in a battery factory. Her husband and other male relatives decided to go through the forest, intending to reach territory controlled by the Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine (ARBiH).
Conditions in Potočari
Between 12 and 13 July 1995, conditions in Potočari were catastrophic. People lacked water and food, panic was spreading, and Serb soldiers were spreading terror. H. T. remembers people dying before her eyes.
On 12 July, Bosnian Serb forces in Potočari systematically separated men from women and children and transported them away separately. During the night rapes occurred, and news of them spread fear among the refugees.
Testimony of H. T.
According to H. T.'s testimony, after the men were separated, soldiers took her to a tent near the battery factory and raped her. The perpetrators are not named in her testimony.
She states that she lost consciousness and came to only in the hospital in Kladanj. From there, according to her, she was transported via Dubrave and Lukavac to Tuzla. Women and children from Potočari were taken toward Kladanj, while the men did not arrive with them.
Loss of Family
According to H. T.'s testimony, her husband, father, father-in-law, brother-in-law and paternal uncles were killed while trying to reach ARBiH territory. Their names are not given.
Years of Silence
H. T. says she began to speak about what she had experienced only about ten years later, with psychological support.
Responsibility
The commander of the VRS in July 1995 was Ratko Mladić. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted him in 2017, among other things for genocide in Srebrenica, and sentenced him to life imprisonment, and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) upheld that verdict on 8 June 2021.
Sources
- Website: Ispovijest Srebreničanke: Silovana nakon poroda (genocid.ba), October 23, 2023 (2023-10-23) · Open source
- Court document: ICTY – Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić, rozsudek senátu prvního stupně, August 2, 2001 (2001-08-02) · Open source
- Court document: IRMCT – Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić (MICT-13-56), June 8, 2021 (2021-06-08) · Open source
- Article: Detektor (BIRN BiH) – Srebrenica Rape Victim Testimony: „A Pain That Will Stay With Me“ (článek se nepodařilo načíst), July 11, 2014 (2014-07-11) · Open source
- Article: Detektor (BIRN BiH), Albina Sorguč – Srebrenica Cover-Up: The Search for Secret Graves Continues, July 9, 2019 (2019-07-09) · Open source