Skelani
Encyclopedia
Skelani is a village in the municipality of Srebrenica
, in the Republika Srpska
entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
According to the 1991 census the population of the town was 1123 - 950 Muslims (84.59%), 160 Serbs (14.25%), 7 Yugoslavs (0.62%) and 6 Unknown/Others (0.53%)
The population of the commune was 4283 - 2847 Muslims (66.47%), 1311 Serbs (30.61%), 16 Yugoslavs (0.37%) and 109 Unknown/Others (2.54%)
Skelani is 50 km from the town of Srebrenica, via difficult roads through the Zeleni Jadar Mountains. The village is much closer to the town of Bajina Basta
in Serbia, only 3 km away by bridge across the Drina River. Traditional lines of communication were disrupted by the Bosnian war, significantly affecting life in Skelani, which has been described by the Bosnian saying that when you live in isolation you end up “ni na nebu ni na zemlji” -‘neither in the sky nor on earth’.
Before the Yugoslav wars
Skelani had very close links administratively and culturally with the Bajina Basta municipality. The nearest hospital to Skelani was in Bajina Basta and many children from Skelani were born and attended school there. Bajina Basta was a centre for employment and shopping for residents of Skelani. Telephone connections and power came via Bajina Basta.
In 1992 the village of Skelani had about 400 households and about 1,200 residents, predominantly Muslim. It was basically an agricultural community, with some livestock raising activity. Relations between Serbs and Muslims were described as good but tensions began to build up after the end of 1989. Branches of the SDA and SDS political parties were established.
When the war began Skelani was cut off from Srebrenica but also from its connections with Serbia. Since the war Skelani has remained isolated, cut off from access to many basic necessities. Instead of being able to go to Bajina Basta to hospital or go shopping residents have to travel to Srebrenica over still difficult roads. Time consuming international border procedures, mistrust and prejudice make crossing the border into Serbia difficult.
The Sase Mine, in Skelani, a major producer of lead and zinc, was heavily damaged during the war. In 1998 the mine's production capacity was estimated at 6,500 t/yr of lead and 4,000 t/yr of zinc.
around the time of the Roman conquest early in the 1st century AD., drawing mostly on the evidence of personal names, linked the Middle Drina area (Skelani) with the historical Scordisci
, a powerful Celtic group whose conflict with the Romans dominated events in the central Balkans from the mid 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD. After the conquest this group formed the civitas of the Dindari
(listed by Pliny the Elder
within Dalmatia), whom a fragmentary inscription appears to locate in the Skelani area.
The Roman municipium
of Skelani, situated at a major crossing of the Drina river, was a post of beneficiarii consulares (Romans wielding authority entrusted to them by a magistrate or office-holder). It was in existence before the end of the reign of Antoninus Pius
and Skelani and the Roman town at Rogatica
may originally have been Flavian creations.
The territory of the city comprised the territory of the Dindari extending beyond the middle Drina around Skelani east of the Drina to include Ljubovija
, Bajina Basta
, Užice
and Požega
. It may have been named Malvesatium.
In 2008 the largest mosaic floor from Roman times ever found in the Balkans was discovered in Skelani by Bosnian archaeologists led by Mirko Babić director of the local museum in Bijeljina
. According to Babić "There are 40 square metres of mosaics that are unique in terms of the diversity of their colours, images and ornaments of marvellous vividness". As well as the mosaic flooring, dated to the first century A.D., 80–180 cm below the soil surface are other ruins of buildings and streets of the Roman town. Babić argues that the ruins discovered to date indicate that Skelani was a rich and important centre in the Roman era.
, with the co-operation of the SFRY authorities, crossed the Drina River and entered Skelani with the purpose of assisting the Bosnian Serbs take control of the area and forcibly remove the area's Muslim population.
On 1 May 1992, Serbians in the area declared Skelani to be a Serbian village. On 7 May it fell into the hands of Serbian forces. All Muslims in the area were ordered to give up their firearms, mainly hunting rifles and the like. On 8 May the removal of the village's Muslim population began. Serbians wearing Chetnik garb came into Vahida Selimovic's house and shot all the male adults. The women were transferred to Novi Pazar. A Bosnian Muslim woman Fatima reported how when shooting began they were surrounded and could not escape. The Serbians entered the village four hours later and immediately began setting houses on fire, looking for men and executing them. "When they got to our house, they ordered us to come out with hands raised above our heads, including the children. There were four men among us, and they shot them in front of us. ... I saw another six men killed nearby." She and other women and children were taken to the police station where they were insulted but not physically harmed before being transported out of Bosnia. (p. 257, War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Volume II. New York: Helsinki Watch. Human Rights Watch, 1993)
On 9 May, the independent Serbian news agency Borba reported that after Skelani fell, 550 Muslims (mostly women, children, and the elderly) were expelled from the village. After proclaiming Skelani a Serbian village Serbian forces refused to allow any Muslims access into the area. (Interviewed by Helsinki Watch, War Crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina 41, 41-43 (1992).
In a January 1993 offensive, Naser Orić
, commander of the forces defending the enclave of Srebrenica, attacked Skelani. Hundreds of Serb civilians fled across the Drina River into Serbia in boats. Oric's forces advanced to about a hundred yards away from the bridge in Skelani, seeking to capture it and blow it up. The Serb forces resisted the attack. During the gun battle a Muslim machine gunner fired on Serb villagers, including women and children, as they tried to cross the bridge.
Stories of fleeing civilians shot down on the Skelani bridge caused anger in Serbia. Ratko Mladić
launched a counterattack that pushed Muslim forces back towards the town of Srebrenica.
A unit of Russian "volunteers" was active in the Skelani area in the early part of 1993, under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Alexandrov, who had previously seen action in Transdniestr and Karabakh and was killed in May 1993.
The names of four men from Skelani were on the list compiled by Ibro Nuhanovic of 239 male refugees from Srebrenica sheltering on the UNPROFOR Base in Potočari
who were handed over by the UN Dutchbat contingent to Bosnian Serb Army commander General Ratko Mladic and become victims of the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995: Sefik Hasanović (1959), Mehmed Mehimović (1950), Ðemal Ðananović (1980) and Murat Ljeskovica (1936).
created the municipality of Skelani, without any consultation with the majority Bosniak population of the municipality of Srebrenica
or of the Skelani area.
In December 1999 the municipality of Skelani was abolished by the international community's post-war High Representative
Wolfgang Petritsch
. According to Petritsch, the RS National Assembly wanted to isolate the town of Srebrenica and deprive it of security, territory, and economic resources for political reasons.
The municipality's continued existence was seen as having a negative effect on the efforts of the newly established joint administration in Srebrenica to encourage the free return of refugees and displaced persons return to their homes of origin (a constitutional right). By cutting Srebrenica off from its economic hinterland, it hampered the town's chances of economic recovery and interfered with the creation of the "political, economic and social conditions conducive to the voluntary return and harmonious reintegration of refugees and displaced persons" called for by Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
. This was the first genocide
trial in Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
They were found to have taken part in the massacre over 1000 Bosniak men at an agricultural warehouse at Kravica
where men trying to escape from Srebrenica
were taken after surrendering to the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) having been promised that they would be safe.
The court established that the defendants secured and controlled the Bratunac
–Milići
road, including the section near the Kravica Cooperative warehouse in Kravica on 12 and 13 July 1995. The soldiers conducted reconnaissance missions on the road and attacked Bosniaks with tanks and other weapons. Milenko Trifunović encouraged the Bosniaks to surrender by giving them false guarantees of safety. Thousands of captured men were held in and around a meadow at Sandići
before taken by VRS soldiers to locations including the Kravica Cooperative warehouse.
On 13 July 1995 over one thousand prisoners held at the warehouse were executed. The soldiers fired automatic weapons and threw hand grenades at them. Seven of the accused took part in shooting the prisoners, after which Petar Mitrović, Slobodan Jakovljević, and Branislav Medan were sent to the back of the warehouse to prevent any prisoners escaping while Brano Džinić took two boxes of grenades and threw them at the killed and wounded who were begging for help.
The primary defendant Miloš Stupar, commander of the Šekovići Detachment, was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, the Skelani Platoon's commander Milenko Trifunović was sentenced to 42 years, Aleksandar Radovanović to 42 years, Brano Džinić to 42 years, Slobodan Jakovljević to 40 years, Branislav Medan to 40 years, and Petar Mitrović to 38 years. Velibor Maksimović, Dragiša Živanović, Milovan Matić, and Miladin Stevanović were acquitted of all charges.
The tournament has provided an opportunity for people who grew up together, worked together and even fought against each other to meet up again after years of isolation (for example the members of the re-formed multi-ethnic team representing the village of Crvice).
The "Zelja" Women's Association, founded in 1999, assists local and returnee women by providing courses in English, computers, and sewing. It has established a playground for children, and provides food packages to returnees and the elderly. The organization also provides legal counseling, and campaigns against domestic violence. Zelja supports two-way return, and sponsors activities and seminars to promote reconciliation among local residents.
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
, in the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
Location
Altitude: 242 mAccording to the 1991 census the population of the town was 1123 - 950 Muslims (84.59%), 160 Serbs (14.25%), 7 Yugoslavs (0.62%) and 6 Unknown/Others (0.53%)
The population of the commune was 4283 - 2847 Muslims (66.47%), 1311 Serbs (30.61%), 16 Yugoslavs (0.37%) and 109 Unknown/Others (2.54%)
Skelani is 50 km from the town of Srebrenica, via difficult roads through the Zeleni Jadar Mountains. The village is much closer to the town of Bajina Basta
Bajina Bašta
Bajina Bašta is a town located in the western mountains of Serbia. The town lies in the valley of the Drina River at the eastern edge of Tara National Park...
in Serbia, only 3 km away by bridge across the Drina River. Traditional lines of communication were disrupted by the Bosnian war, significantly affecting life in Skelani, which has been described by the Bosnian saying that when you live in isolation you end up “ni na nebu ni na zemlji” -‘neither in the sky nor on earth’.
Before the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
Skelani had very close links administratively and culturally with the Bajina Basta municipality. The nearest hospital to Skelani was in Bajina Basta and many children from Skelani were born and attended school there. Bajina Basta was a centre for employment and shopping for residents of Skelani. Telephone connections and power came via Bajina Basta.
In 1992 the village of Skelani had about 400 households and about 1,200 residents, predominantly Muslim. It was basically an agricultural community, with some livestock raising activity. Relations between Serbs and Muslims were described as good but tensions began to build up after the end of 1989. Branches of the SDA and SDS political parties were established.
When the war began Skelani was cut off from Srebrenica but also from its connections with Serbia. Since the war Skelani has remained isolated, cut off from access to many basic necessities. Instead of being able to go to Bajina Basta to hospital or go shopping residents have to travel to Srebrenica over still difficult roads. Time consuming international border procedures, mistrust and prejudice make crossing the border into Serbia difficult.
The Sase Mine, in Skelani, a major producer of lead and zinc, was heavily damaged during the war. In 1998 the mine's production capacity was estimated at 6,500 t/yr of lead and 4,000 t/yr of zinc.
Early history
Géza Alföldy's reconstruction of the cultural and ethnic affinities of the indigenous population of northeast DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
around the time of the Roman conquest early in the 1st century AD., drawing mostly on the evidence of personal names, linked the Middle Drina area (Skelani) with the historical Scordisci
Scordisci
The Scordisci were an Iron Age tribe centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus , Dravus and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era...
, a powerful Celtic group whose conflict with the Romans dominated events in the central Balkans from the mid 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD. After the conquest this group formed the civitas of the Dindari
Dindari
Dindari or Dindarii , was a tribe that was a branch of the Scordisci. They dwelled by the Drina valley, of present-day Bosnia and Serbia....
(listed by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
within Dalmatia), whom a fragmentary inscription appears to locate in the Skelani area.
The Roman municipium
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
of Skelani, situated at a major crossing of the Drina river, was a post of beneficiarii consulares (Romans wielding authority entrusted to them by a magistrate or office-holder). It was in existence before the end of the reign of Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
and Skelani and the Roman town at Rogatica
Rogatica
Rogatica is a municipality and town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina located 60 kilometres northeast of Sarajevo; midway on the road from Goražde towards Sokolac...
may originally have been Flavian creations.
The territory of the city comprised the territory of the Dindari extending beyond the middle Drina around Skelani east of the Drina to include Ljubovija
Ljubovija
Ljubovija is a town and municipality located in the Mačva District of Serbia. In 2011, the population of the town is 3,946 while the population of the municipality is 14,424.-Municipality:The municipality of Ljubovija includes the following settlements:...
, Bajina Basta
Bajina Bašta
Bajina Bašta is a town located in the western mountains of Serbia. The town lies in the valley of the Drina River at the eastern edge of Tara National Park...
, Užice
Užice
Užice is a city and municipality in western Serbia, located at the banks of the Đetinja river. It is the administrative center of the Zlatibor District...
and Požega
Požega, Serbia
Požega is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of Serbia. In 2011, the population of the town is 12,957, while population of the municipality is 29,488.-Municipality:...
. It may have been named Malvesatium.
In 2008 the largest mosaic floor from Roman times ever found in the Balkans was discovered in Skelani by Bosnian archaeologists led by Mirko Babić director of the local museum in Bijeljina
Bijeljina
Bijeljina is a city and municipality in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city is the second largest in the Republika Srpska entity after Banja Luka and fifth largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is situated on the flat rich plains of Semberija...
. According to Babić "There are 40 square metres of mosaics that are unique in terms of the diversity of their colours, images and ornaments of marvellous vividness". As well as the mosaic flooring, dated to the first century A.D., 80–180 cm below the soil surface are other ruins of buildings and streets of the Roman town. Babić argues that the ruins discovered to date indicate that Skelani was a rich and important centre in the Roman era.
The Bosnian war 1992-1995
On 14 or 15 April 1992 "volunteers" from the Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, with the co-operation of the SFRY authorities, crossed the Drina River and entered Skelani with the purpose of assisting the Bosnian Serbs take control of the area and forcibly remove the area's Muslim population.
On 1 May 1992, Serbians in the area declared Skelani to be a Serbian village. On 7 May it fell into the hands of Serbian forces. All Muslims in the area were ordered to give up their firearms, mainly hunting rifles and the like. On 8 May the removal of the village's Muslim population began. Serbians wearing Chetnik garb came into Vahida Selimovic's house and shot all the male adults. The women were transferred to Novi Pazar. A Bosnian Muslim woman Fatima reported how when shooting began they were surrounded and could not escape. The Serbians entered the village four hours later and immediately began setting houses on fire, looking for men and executing them. "When they got to our house, they ordered us to come out with hands raised above our heads, including the children. There were four men among us, and they shot them in front of us. ... I saw another six men killed nearby." She and other women and children were taken to the police station where they were insulted but not physically harmed before being transported out of Bosnia. (p. 257, War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Volume II. New York: Helsinki Watch. Human Rights Watch, 1993)
On 9 May, the independent Serbian news agency Borba reported that after Skelani fell, 550 Muslims (mostly women, children, and the elderly) were expelled from the village. After proclaiming Skelani a Serbian village Serbian forces refused to allow any Muslims access into the area. (Interviewed by Helsinki Watch, War Crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina 41, 41-43 (1992).
In a January 1993 offensive, Naser Orić
Naser Oric
Naser Orić is a former Bosniak military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces in the Srebrenica enclave in Eastern Bosnia surrounded by Serb forces, during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.In 2006, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by...
, commander of the forces defending the enclave of Srebrenica, attacked Skelani. Hundreds of Serb civilians fled across the Drina River into Serbia in boats. Oric's forces advanced to about a hundred yards away from the bridge in Skelani, seeking to capture it and blow it up. The Serb forces resisted the attack. During the gun battle a Muslim machine gunner fired on Serb villagers, including women and children, as they tried to cross the bridge.
Stories of fleeing civilians shot down on the Skelani bridge caused anger in Serbia. Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
launched a counterattack that pushed Muslim forces back towards the town of Srebrenica.
A unit of Russian "volunteers" was active in the Skelani area in the early part of 1993, under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Alexandrov, who had previously seen action in Transdniestr and Karabakh and was killed in May 1993.
The names of four men from Skelani were on the list compiled by Ibro Nuhanovic of 239 male refugees from Srebrenica sheltering on the UNPROFOR Base in Potočari
Potocari
Potočari is a village in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6 km north-west of the town of Srebrenica. In the 1991 census it had 4,338 inhabitants, of whom 93% were Bosniaks and 7% were others, mainly Serbs.-War period:...
who were handed over by the UN Dutchbat contingent to Bosnian Serb Army commander General Ratko Mladic and become victims of the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995: Sefik Hasanović (1959), Mehmed Mehimović (1950), Ðemal Ðananović (1980) and Murat Ljeskovica (1936).
Municipality of Skelani
In 1992 the National Assembly of Republika SrpskaRepublika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
created the municipality of Skelani, without any consultation with the majority Bosniak population of the municipality of Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
or of the Skelani area.
In December 1999 the municipality of Skelani was abolished by the international community's post-war High Representative
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
Wolfgang Petritsch
Wolfgang Petritsch
Wolfgang Petritsch is an Austrian diplomat of Slovene ethnicity. He was born to a Carinthian Slovene family in Klagenfurt and spent his childhood in a partially Slovene, partially German-speaking environment. He has a PhD from the University of Vienna and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University...
. According to Petritsch, the RS National Assembly wanted to isolate the town of Srebrenica and deprive it of security, territory, and economic resources for political reasons.
The municipality's continued existence was seen as having a negative effect on the efforts of the newly established joint administration in Srebrenica to encourage the free return of refugees and displaced persons return to their homes of origin (a constitutional right). By cutting Srebrenica off from its economic hinterland, it hampered the town's chances of economic recovery and interfered with the creation of the "political, economic and social conditions conducive to the voluntary return and harmonious reintegration of refugees and displaced persons" called for by Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
The 3rd Skelani Platoon and its participation in the Srebrenica genocide
On 29 July 2008 a group of special police force members of the 3rd "Skelani" Platoon of the 2nd Šekovići Detachment of the Special Police Brigade were found guilty of genocide by the War Crimes Chamber of the Criminal Division of the Court of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCourt of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a domestic court of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina which includes international judges and prosecutors...
. This was the first genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
trial in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
They were found to have taken part in the massacre over 1000 Bosniak men at an agricultural warehouse at Kravica
Kravica
Kravica is a predominantly Serb populated village in Bratunac county near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina....
where men trying to escape from Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
were taken after surrendering to the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) having been promised that they would be safe.
The court established that the defendants secured and controlled the Bratunac
Bratunac
Bratunac is a town and municipality located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The easternmost point of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the municipality of Bratunac which lies in the Republika Srpska.-1971:26.513 total...
–Milići
Milici
Milići is a small town and a municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.-1991:total: 16,038* Serbs - 7,931 * Muslims by nationality - 7,805 * "Yugoslavs" - 68 * Croats - 7...
road, including the section near the Kravica Cooperative warehouse in Kravica on 12 and 13 July 1995. The soldiers conducted reconnaissance missions on the road and attacked Bosniaks with tanks and other weapons. Milenko Trifunović encouraged the Bosniaks to surrender by giving them false guarantees of safety. Thousands of captured men were held in and around a meadow at Sandići
Sandići
Sandići is a village in the municipality of Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina....
before taken by VRS soldiers to locations including the Kravica Cooperative warehouse.
On 13 July 1995 over one thousand prisoners held at the warehouse were executed. The soldiers fired automatic weapons and threw hand grenades at them. Seven of the accused took part in shooting the prisoners, after which Petar Mitrović, Slobodan Jakovljević, and Branislav Medan were sent to the back of the warehouse to prevent any prisoners escaping while Brano Džinić took two boxes of grenades and threw them at the killed and wounded who were begging for help.
The primary defendant Miloš Stupar, commander of the Šekovići Detachment, was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, the Skelani Platoon's commander Milenko Trifunović was sentenced to 42 years, Aleksandar Radovanović to 42 years, Brano Džinić to 42 years, Slobodan Jakovljević to 40 years, Branislav Medan to 40 years, and Petar Mitrović to 38 years. Velibor Maksimović, Dragiša Živanović, Milovan Matić, and Miladin Stevanović were acquitted of all charges.
Reconciliation work
A USAID-funded Cross-Border Cooperation and Reconciliation (CBCR) project has worked to bring residents from both sides of the international border together in a football tournament in Skelani. Local NGOs and the CBCR project encouraged teams from Bajina Basta and Bosnian Serb communities to join teams mostly from the municipality of Srebrenica in this tournament as a step towards encouraging cooperation and cross-border and inter-ethnic contacts.The tournament has provided an opportunity for people who grew up together, worked together and even fought against each other to meet up again after years of isolation (for example the members of the re-formed multi-ethnic team representing the village of Crvice).
The "Zelja" Women's Association, founded in 1999, assists local and returnee women by providing courses in English, computers, and sewing. It has established a playground for children, and provides food packages to returnees and the elderly. The organization also provides legal counseling, and campaigns against domestic violence. Zelja supports two-way return, and sponsors activities and seminars to promote reconciliation among local residents.
External links
- MSN Map - shows railways
- Skelani Page in Global Gazetteer (Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.) - shows railways
- Maplandia satellite view of Skelani
- Photograph by Kamenko Pajic of Bosnian Serb women blocking a UN aid convoy from delivering food to Srebrenica, Skelani, November 1992
- Film of Russian volunteers at Skelani, February 1993