Bosniak recalls the moment when the head of the Serbian Army appeared as a child: Chocolate, Lies, and genocide

On July 11th 1995, as Bosnian Serb forces landed in the UN-protected “ “of Srebrenica, the eight-year-old Izudin Aliq was with his grandfather near the UN peacekeepers base in Potocari where thousands of Bosniaks tried to seek refuge.

My uncle sent me water and I saw a group of kids. I remember seeing soldiers distributing something. I ran and a man in Serbian uniform touched my hair, asked me about my name and age, and gave me some chocolate”, Alic recalls. “I wasn't afraid and didn't know who he was. All I cared about was chocolate, and I ate it immediately. A video recording of the Bosnian Serb military commander as he entered Srebrenica on July 11th 1995 and providing candy and chocolate to children worldwide. It was filmed at the start of a military operation, which would last for days and take the lives of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys and result in the expulsion of 40,000 women, children and the elderly. Mladic asked Aliqi what her name was and how old he was.

I remember saying I was called Isudin and I was 12. I don't know why I lied about my age. I think I wanted to be older. I don't know. I know he told me everything was going to be okay, which was not true”, he said.

Aliqi before the war lived in Proqih near Srebrenica, on the border with Serbia. After Serb soldiers attacked the village in 1993, his family fled to Srebrenica, where they remained until July 1995. After the attack at Srebrenica, Aliqi went with his mother and brothers, sisters and grandparents to Potocari, while his father, uncle, and cousin fled to the forest looking for security in the Bosnian forces controlled town of Tuzla.

I was eight years old and when I tried to remember, I don't know what was going on. There was chaos in Potocari, many soldiers, many men,” said Aliq.

In the midst of the chaos in Potocari, thousands of Bosniaks gathered trying to escape, and it was then that Alic went to draw water and met Mladic. After that, Aliqi spent the rest of the war at a refugee centre in Tulzel and then returned to Prokush, where he lives today. His father and cousin could not survive the genocide that Mladic is accused of today.

I don't know where or how they were killed. I buried my father and uncle right after the war. They were found in Kamenica, near Zvornik. My cousin was never found,” said Aliqi. He said he thinks today of Mladic of those days and wonders whether the former Bosnian Serb military commander, who is currently on trial at The Hague, remembers him. “I often wonder when I see him in The Hague. I wonder if he knew all those men would be killed. My father and my uncle, all of them...

Mladic is charged with genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes. The decision is expected to be made in November.

What do I feel about him? Nothing. I'm just glad he's been arrested and brought to trial”, Aliq concluded. He must answer for everything he did at Srebrenica”! BIRN