Dead or Alive

Then, an army jeep with his cousin in tears and some officers sitting inside stopped in front of him. "My Srdjan is dead," Miodrag Djeric said. The officers nodded and he cried out loud, "What have you done to my boy?"

Things went fast afterwards. When he asked them to explain how the tragedy had taken place he received a confusing answer - that four other soldiers were wounded and that Srdjan died in a troop carrier which took anti-tank fire...They wanted to know when the funeral was going to be, whether Miodrag wanted his son to be buried with full military honors (he replied he would) and whether he would like to see how they pack his son's body (which he refused).

The next day, Miodrag was getting everything ready for the funeral - food, beverages, mourning clothes and a wreath, so that his son would be buried in a dignified way. From Subotica, where his son was doing military service, he received a report on opening of his son's army locker, one-time financial aid, a death certificate, a medical report on the cause of death from the garrison clinic in Subotica and Captain Milovan Kukolj, Srdjan's officer at Yugoslav Army's garrison in Subotica, arrived.

"So, tell me, how did my son die?" Miodrag asked. The captain replied that everything had taken place in a troop carrier loaded with live ammunition, that one soldier took an LAW (light anti-tank weapon), set it up and activated it, that Srdjan was killed while other soldiers were pulled out of the burning carrier. Miodrag wondered how was it that soldiers with so little training and Srdjan had started his military service 48 days before were allowed to be alone in a carrier with live ammunition and what live ammunition was doing there. Captain Kukolj answered that they had orders to be on full alert as the Vance-Owen plan was not signed.

There were other things that Miodrag wanted to ask the captain since he still could not understand anything but then an army truck with a coffin (made of wood with another metal one inside, which was hermetically closed with a square opening of darkened glass on the top) pulled up in front of the house. Miodrag's wife asked whether her son was naked and if she should bury his suit as well. Captain Kukolj said she should.

Miodrag's cousin recorded the funeral on the video tape. First Yugoslav Army trucks which brought the unit for giving honors. Then the coffin being carried out of the house and covered with the Yugoslav flag. The priest and the prayer service. The funeral procession, the cross and a multitude of wreaths. The men lowering the coffin with ropes...Miodrag watched the tape many times even then when he no longer knew whom he had buried on May 7.

Miodrag continued to inquire about his son's death after the funeral. He went to Begaljica to find the family of the soldier who he was told had activated the LAW. What he came across was the soldier's funeral and his father shouting that the army was lying about their children. Miodrag wrote to Zivota Panic, the then Chief-of-Staff of the Yugoslav Army, who offered his condolences by mail and a promise that Miodrag would have an opportunity to discuss the matter with General Stojanovic, the Commander of 1st Army. He was ready to believe that it was one of the accidents that simply happen and there is nothing one can do.

But then he received another death certificate in mail. It was the same as the first one he got except for his son's place of death. It said Savski Venac (one of Belgrade's municipalities) instead of Subotica. Miodrag decided to go to Subotica and check how his son died and where.

He met with officers, visited the proving ground, lit a candle in the troop carrier and tried to get hold of the official report. A certain Major Petrovic, who is a security officer, responded by saying, "What are you planning to do with it? Wave it in front of people's noses," and instead gave him a paper which said that "the military organization" was responsible for Srdjan's death. Miodrag threw it into his face.

The period until the end of July was eventful. Meetings with generals and representatives of the Serbian Government, explanations, stories about all kinds of aid, and, most importantly, a meeting with Colonel Kelecevic, the President of the Military Court. That was on July 14. Miodrag was interested to find out when the trial would be held and wanted to see the report which was drawn up after the investigation and contained pictures of the remains of his son in the carrier. He was told to be patient as the preparations for the trial were being brought to an end and was shown paperwork. He was taken to another room to have a look at the report. He watched it closely and realized that everything had been burnt so that what remained of his son was only ashes. He asked the Colonel "What did I bury? The coffin was heavy." "Sand, probably, that matches the body weight," the Colonel told him.

Ten days later on July 27 Miodrag set out to dig out the coffin. He brought a pen and a note pad and wrote everything down. With him were: uncle Zivomir Simic, cousins Dragisa Djeric, Ratko Djeric and Milomir Djeric, nephew Novak Djeric and colleague from work Zelimir Radovanovic from Lajkovac. They opened the coffin with a hammer and a chisel. They found a black plastic bag and a small piece of paper with his name on it. The body, wrapped in a white sheet, was inside. Miodrag wrote down, "The sight was horrible. The sheet was stained with blood in several places, but there was no soot..." And, then, the description of the body. In brief, it was severely mutilated, without a nose, eyes, arms and legs and with not trace of burning. Miodrag remembered that the only thing he had seen on the photos was a pile of ashes and found himself wondering again whom he had buried.

He asked to see the autopsy report, got it and read about a burnt skull, rib-cage, heart and lungs, as well as burnt intestines. The photographs, this time in color, were also enclosed.

"What are you doing to me?" he asked and only then explained it to the colonel that he had dug out the body and what he had dug out had nothing to do with the pictures and what had been said in the report. The Colonel was shocked and told Miodrag to write a request for exhumation after which he would approve a procedure to establish the identity of the body (Miodrag wrote the report immediately but the exhumation was never performed).

A worse part of the story began in September. Miodrag Djeric was informed that his son was alive. A woman, who had been wounded in Bosnia, turned up in Arandjelovac. She had heard about Miodrag and his plight, promised to ask around and told him that his son was alive. Miodrag asked to meet her. 'Ruzica Milanovic' told him she was a Major in the Counterintelligence Service of the Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina, that she had led sabotage groups and tortured captured Muslims because they killed her family, son, husband...and then she said, "Your son Srdjan is alive. Everybody is working to save him. Generals Perisic, Mladic, and Gvero. Don't worry. He's alive." She also explained that he would learn all details in several days' time.

The next few days were like in a movie: Srdjan was allegedly in a Croat hospital in Donji Miholjac. His name was put on the list for exchange. People from state security were engaged on the case. Some information had to be withheld. They tried to get him out three times every week. A certain person saw him. A team is ready to get him out. "But, is that my son you are talking about," he asked her on one occasion and she told him where his son had birthmarks. He wondered what she wanted in return, whether he was supposed to pay her. She said she didn't want anything only to have lunch with them together with General Momcilo Perisic when the boy comes home.

Miodrag was suspicious all the time, but was being constantly persuaded. Ruzica told him she had attended a meeting in Karadjordjevo, and what it was about, and that he should learn about it from newspapers or television the next day. It was about the meeting between General Perisic and the Commander of UNPROFOR, a debate on pink zones, some things in Kosovo...

Miodrag believed and doubted, yet never stopped visiting the grave. But, his wife did not grieve. "How can we mourn the son who's alive," Miodrag said later on but continued to visit the grave as if it belonged to an unknown person. He would light a candle for a stranger.

The first time he waited for his son was the weekend after September 30. He was told not to leave his house and he didn't. He stayed up all night on Friday and was sure his son was coming home. Even the dogs in the neighborhood barked all night which was a good sign. He stayed up again on Saturday night, he, his wife and their relatives. On Sunday he went to the graveyard and in the evening he waited again. On Monday morning he was informed that his son was in Sarajevo, and that General Mladic had refused to issue a permission for a helicopter to land, that a car would not start and that everything was postponed for the time being.

No one knows how Miodrag Djeric managed to get through the several following days. He visited the grave on October 10. When he returned home at 3 p.m. he found a message that his son had crossed the border near Mali Zvornik at 2 p.m. that day and was on his way home. "He'll be home by 6 a.m. for sure," Ruzica Milanovic said and Miodrag waited again together with his relatives. They even considered changing mourning clothes and organizing a band to come and play.

Miodrag Djeric heard all kinds of things that night. That his son had a stoke and was in the Military Academy Hospital in Belgrade. That he was in Karadjordjevo. That he was "somewhere close by." Ruzica Milanovic had disappeared for some time and he found her at a spa in Mladenovac. "Srdjan is definitely alive," she repeated.

"All right," Miodrag thought, "If she lied let's see why" and went to see the police in Arandjelovac. He talked with a certain Inspector Kalicanin and told him the whole story. "It's impossible that everything is a lie. I'll check," the inspector said. After some time the very same inspector confirmed that Mrs. Milanovic had had contacts with various generals, that Perisic, Mladic and Gvero arrived in Arandjelovac by helicopter to see her and that she was not an "unimportant" person. That was all. Miodrag did not have any other contacts with the police. His letter where he asked the police "to come and visit the Djeric family and confirm that everything was a lie so that they would stop believing if they cannot arrest Mrs. Milanovic for lying" was ignored.

To make things worse, Miodrag tried to find out whether his son really stayed in the Military Academy Hospital. He asked a relative who worked there to asked Doctor Starcevic whom Ruzica had mentioned whether he treated Srdjan Djeric from Arandjelovac. She did and the doctor replied, "So what if I did" and left. Miodrag almost lost his mind.

He also tried to meet General Perisic but did not succeed. The first time, on October 19, he was received by Perisic's aide-de-camp Jovic. Miodrag did not mention either Ruzica or the stories that his son was alive. He was interested in two things only. He asked Jovic whether it was true that paramilitary formations were allowed into the garrison in Subotica to take the conscripts to the front. He also asked whether it was true that the soldiers of the Republic of Serb Krajina and the Serb Republic in B-H were trained in the army barracks in Subotica. Jovic only stared at him at first. The answer to both his questions was a terse "Yes, it's true." Miodrag thought it was enough for the beginning and everything would be easier to explain later on. Unfortunately, he did not manage to see Perisic. When Miodrag asked to meet him, he was told he could see some colonels from his cabinet but he refused. Then he tried to meet Zoran Lilic, the President of Yugoslavia, and Pavle Bulatovic, the Defense Minister. He was again offered to see some colonels from Perisic's cabinet but he refused.

He received nothing either from the police or from the court. He was not asked to appear in court nor did he receive the approval for exhumation. Mrs. Ruzica Milanovic who, as the police confirmed, was not an "unimportant" person and had met with military leaders kept saying his son was alive. Miodrag no longer knew who was pulling whose leg and why.

He wrote to virtually everybody: presidents, prime ministers, ministers and top military officers. Milosevic, Sainovic, Kontic, Lilic, Bulatovic, Perisic,...no one answered. He talked again with the people from the Subotica garrison and learned that the report on the accident contains a number of a carrier which does not exist and not one witness could be found.

The worst happened on January 4 this year when court orders arrived by mail. "Srdjan Djeric (!) is asked to appear before court at the hearing scheduled for January 24 and 25 at the Military Court in Ustanicka Street Nb. 29."

Miodrag knew that there was a possibility that it was a mistake, that some clerk may have put down his son's name instead of his own, but this was not enough to satisfy him. He decided to make his story public.