VLASENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- A slashed, deflated basketball lay on the doorstep of the family home of Nedim Salaharevic in Vlasenica, a village in Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
When Salaharevic spotted it recently, he knew immediately it was no random act but one of intimidation aimed at him.
Salaharevic has provided testimony at war crimes trials, including a current one involving the mayor of Vlasenica, which was the site of the notorious Susica detention camp, where Bosniak prisoners were killed, raped, and tortured during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. The war, which followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, killed some 100,000 people.
Among those who perished there were Salaharevic's father and brother, a top basketball player, who Salaharevic suspects was the cruel inspiration for the basketball prank.
"I believe it was planned because my brother was a basketball player. It was a clear message that I would end up like that ball, that is, just like my brother ended up," Salaharevic recently told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.
Nearly three decades since the end of the Bosnian conflict, war crimes trials have only recently concluded at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and are still ongoing in Bosnia itself. And with material evidence often elusive, these criminal prosecutions -- crucial for setting the historical record straight -- often rely on witness accounts, such as that provided by Salaharevic.
But as Salaharevic's case suggests, coming forward can be risky. Witnesses in war crimes trials, not only in Bosnia but elsewhere in the Balkans, often face threats, intimidation, or violent reprisals while accusing authorities of doing little to protect or support them.
The Susica Death Camp
Some 2,800 Bosniaks were killed in Vlasenica during the Bosnian War. Between May and September in 1992, more than 8,000 people were interned at the Susica detention camp. According to data from the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1,617 of them were killed.
Among those who perished were Salaharevic's father, Muhamed, and his brother, Edin, a top player for OKK Sloboda Dita, a professional basketball team in Tuzla, northern Bosnia, who also represented the former Yugoslavia at youth level.
Salaharevic recalls that his brother, one of the top hoop talents at the time in former Yugoslavia, was not spared even though he was only 18 in 1992. It didn't matter that Partizan and Red Star, legendary sport teams based in Belgrade, had directly intervened, appealing for his release from Susica.
In 2009, the remains of both Muhamed and Edin were identified in mass graves in the area.
Today, Nedim Salaharevic lives in Tuzla, the third-largest city in Bosnia, and rarely visits his native Vlasenica. But it was during a visit there on September 23 that the deflated and slashed basketball appeared in front of his family's home. At the time, Salaharevic didn't report it to local police, convinced, he said, that it would be pointless.
Local Mayor In The Dock
Despite his testimony at war crimes trials, Salaharevic did not request protected witness status, which, among other things, would have enabled him to testify under a pseudonym without appearing in the courtroom.
"However, that doesn't absolve the authorities from the responsibility to protect those of us who testify under our first and last name. We are literally left without any protection. When I go to Vlasenica, I can ask for protection from the police, and then I remember that I testified against the chief [of the local police force] and I wonder who I can turn to," Salaharevic explained.
Four former police officers in Vlasenica are now on trial before the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country's top court, for crimes allegedly committed in Vlasenica in 1992 and 1993 as well as the persecution of the local Bosniak, mainly Muslim, population.
One of the four is Miroslav Kraljevic, the current mayor of Vlasenica and a member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, the political party of Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, who himself was recently domestically indicted for political crimes linked with his secessionism and rejection of state authority.
Kraljevic and the others are charged with the detention, torture, and abuse of dozens of people in Vlasenica between 1992 and 1993. The indictment against them also refers to the murder and disappearance of at least 22 people.
Kraljevic, who has been the mayor of the Vlasenica since 2016, did not respond to RFE/RL's requests for comment.
It's not the first time that Vlasenica and the Susica detention camp have been in the war crimes spotlight. In 2003, Dragan Nikolic, the former commander of that camp, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by The Hague tribunal for "creating and maintaining an atmosphere of terror and systematic sadism in the camp for the Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serb detainees. Nikolic personally killed nine people and tortured and beat other detainees. Under his guidance, women of all ages were raped or sexually assaulted."
In 2011, Predrag Bastah and Goran Viskovic were sentenced by a Bosnian court to 22 and 18 years, respectively, for "participating in a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb population" in Vlasenica.
In 2021, the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina found Rade Garic, a former Bosnian Serb policeman and soldier, guilty of atrocities in Vlasenica in 1992 and three years later in 1995 in Srebrenica where Bosnian Serb soldiers and police executed more than 8,000 men and boys. (Garic's 20-year prison sentence was later reduced to 17 years.)
The Srebrenica killings were the only episode of the war to be legally defined as genocide, including by two United Nations courts.
The Pain Never Ends: Commemorating The Srebrenica Genocide As New Victims Are Buried
In some of these criminal proceedings, such as the one against Bastah, Salaharevic also testified. But it was only after he appeared in court in the latest case in July that Salaharevic says his troubles began.
Inadequate Protection
Bosnia has taken steps, legislatively at least, to protect witnesses in war crimes cases. In 2008, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers adopted the National Strategy for War Crimes Cases, which, among other things, foresees protection and support for victims and witnesses in proceedings before all courts.
Several laws on the books also aim to protect and support witnesses, and the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina has a witness support department. Another special witness protection department operates within Bosnia's State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA).
According to data on its website, SIPA's witness protection department has provided protection for more than 1,000 witnesses who testified at the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the country's other courts from 2004 to the present.
However, although the participation of victims and witnesses in court proceedings is crucial, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's mission to the country has warned in recent years that Bosnia has not taken appropriate measures to protect witnesses.
The Prosecutor-General's Office and the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina did not respond to RFE/RL's request for comment.
Sanel Neziric, a lawyer from Sarajevo, told RFE/RL that, despite legal safeguards, the system rarely works in practice, often leaving witnesses vulnerable. "It is clear that people who have family will not testify against those who are still so powerful today. These are not only war crimes but also organized crime. Who will testify and be targeted by those who are stronger than the state?" asked Neziric, adding that witnesses who refuse to testify can face up to the equivalent of 15,000 euros ($15,700) in fines.
And even for those willing to take the stand under witness protection, there are risks, Neziric said. "They can hide their identity, be given a pseudonym, change their voice. But all these measures are meaningless, because during the court proceedings everyone in the courtroom will figure out who the witness is, and we all pretend that we don't," the lawyer explained.
Bakira Hasecic, the president of the Association of Women Victims of War, an NGO that has documented rape cases from the Bosnian War, has testified several times in war crimes trials before the ICTY and the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Those trials involved crimes committed in Visegrad, Bosnia, which, according to the ICTY, was subjected to "one of the most comprehensive and ruthless campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian conflict." An estimated 3,000 Bosniaks -- mainly Muslims -- were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the town and its surroundings.
Hasecic told RFE/RL that she often faced intimidation when she testified, adding that witness protection measures did little. "The court needs us when we are in the courtroom. But afterwards, no one cares about us," Hasecic said.
Murat Tahirovic, the president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide -- a Bosnian NGO that assists war crimes victims and their families -- said witnesses often fear for their lives, especially when they live near those accused of war crimes.
"The accused are mostly people who are in senior positions in politics or generally high-profile individuals. They have connections and resources and can cause problems for witnesses," Tahirovic said, bluntly adding that witness protection programs fall far short of their intended goals. "It lasts for as long as the witness is at the disposal of the prosecution. But after that, they have no protection," he said.
After war crimes trials wrap up, those who came forward to provide evidence against the accused are often left traumatized, according to Tahirovic. "These people are heroes. We are trying to stress to the authorities how important they truly are, but unfortunately no one -- institutions or society -- is listening."
