MAYBE i SHOULD HATE THEM Edvin Kanka Ćudić

In the book “Death and the Dervish” Mesa Selimovic wrote: “And you, my brethren, please, do not resent these words if they hurt and saddened you. And if they revealed my weakness. I am not ashamed of this weakness in front of you; I would be ashamed if there weren’t any.”

They say that crime doesn’t expire. I'm afraid, that the crimes against Bosniaks are already forgotten. They would be studied only from books. We’ll recount to our children about them. Children will get their grades in school on the genocide and how we have been, for the umpteenth time, murdered because of our religion, name and nationality. The fact is that some weren’t even killed because of their faith (because they were atheists), neither the nationality (as they were Yugoslavs), but only because of their name. That name, is what the criminal convicted.

I would not know why I write this to you. The memory remained. I wanted to share it with my people, my readers. It is a history of searching for a loved one. It remains for us, the seekers, an eternal curiosity. For criminals, remains eternal torture and digging through evidence. Those who are silent about the tremendous crimes, justify the criminal’s consciousness and cruel murders of innocents.

I did not saved him alive, I did not see him dead

They told that the war will not be. That it’s only some people talking... He believed them. He was sure of it. He believed that he hadn’t done anything wrong to anybody. He said: "I did not touch anybody, I never reproached to anyone..."

On April the 30th 1992. , a group of masked uniformed soldiers disarmed the four police officers of Brcko who were in two machine-gun-nest bunkers under the Sava bridge, and seized police positions. In 1991, Sava Bridge was damaged by Croatian army, which, during the war with Serbia and Montenegro, damaged the lower part of the bridge, to disable the tanks and vehicles crossing the bridge. The wooden boards were set so that people cross over to Croatia and vice versa.

That morning, at 04:30 am, Sava Bridge was completely blown up in the air. Destruction was ordered by Rade Bozic, commander of Brcko’s "Red Berets". On the comment of one soldier, that there are civilians on the bridge, Bozic said: "I don’t care about the people! F**k the people! Blow up the bridge!"

The exact number of civilians killed on the bridge is not known. In these moments of panic, while misinformation were still buzzing around, the power to decide was searched for – to where and which way to go? From the direction of Serbian suburbs: Brezik, Grcica and Potocari, came aggressor paramilitary groups supported by the former neighbours, who appeared that morning with uniforms and weapons, and began to occupy the surrounding vital structures, mostly plants.

Mustafa Ramic (then Mayor of Brcko) in the time claimed that war will not be (his speech to the people of Brcko on the local television station of Brcko won’t be forgotten). However, the war did happen... Today, most of the Brcko citizens, blame this politician for the deaths of many civilians, and for insidiously deceiving people before the war.

According to many testimonies, this is how the war began in Brcko - with the destruction of the Sava Bridge... While many fled to Croatia, Edhem aka Ekrem Cudic still trusted his (evil) neighbours. He had hope. He believed that an innocent man cannot die. He believed that the fate of Auschwitz cannot happen to him, a Muslim with a modest knowledge of Islam, and a valuable employee of Brcko garment factory "Interplet". Ultimately, he believed in the invincible power of the spirit.

The villain didn’t think that way, he revenged Battle of Kosovo. Edhem defended the Yugoslav idea of ​​brotherhood and unity. He wasn’t a member of the Party (it doesn’t mean that he didn’t cry because of Tito's death), nor a member of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). He wasn’t in politics, nor was interested in it. He lived with the chess board and sought ways to beat opponents in this strategic game. The chessboard was his only battlefield.

On 2nd May 1992. War began directly in front of his home in Brcko in Kolobara city area, on the Square of Ahmet Kobic (today, Pere Marjana Street) in front of the White Mosque. The releasing of Serbian, about 10 meters long, flag down the minaret of that Ottoman building.

After the "victorious" seizing of the city by Ljubisa Savic aka Mauzer from Bijeljina, for Bosniaks and Croats the days of horror had arised: torture, rape, and murder - genocide. Edhem was taken to the hangars of bus transport company "Laser" Brcko. He remained there three days. He claimed that, whoever from the Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croats had an ID card, was being released from custody (freedom as it was called, which meant to find a refuge somewhere in the city). However, Cudic did not have the fatal document, and after three days he was transferred to the camp "Luka".

From the 7th to 20th May he was detained in the camp "Luka" Brcko. He was brought in the camp alongside another 300 Bosniaks. In the same camp 200 civilians were brought from the "Posavina" hotel, from the ghetto Brezovo polje 250 more, and from the DTV "Partizan" about 300 civilians. From these five camps, counting the ghetto Brezovo Polje, in the camp "Luka" more than 1,200 inmates were brought.

Edhem Cudic then owned a blue shirt, wrist watch SEIKO, and Nur-prayer, which he carried with him as protection. He handed over the watch SEIKO to his father Salih Cudic who visited him in "Luka". He did so, because the villain took everything that held any material value. The Nur-prayer ended up in the mouth of this man. In the fear of criminals, in regular reviews of things that the detainees possess, he swallowed it.

The questions that the detainees were asked were always the same: "Do you know any members of the SDA, HDZ, MBO, SDP?" "Since when are you a member of any of these parties?"; "Do you have a weapon?"; "Who sold the weapons?"; "Do you know any of the SDA officials?"; “Do you know someone of the name Ramic, Bahor, Causevic? ... Where are they now?” In the interrogation room was constantly Jelisic, known as the Serbian Adolf, who took the victim outside after every brief hint the investigator gave. Because of the beatings during interrogation victims were often unable to walk. So one time "Serbian Adolf" took Sead Cerimovic (1952-1992.), and forced him to move in accelerated steps towards the shed (the place of execution). However, Sead had difficulty in walking due to sustained beatings. Annoyed, "Serbian Adolf" shot him in the back of his head with "Scorpio" gun half-way to the shed.

D.V. rescued Edhem from the “Luka” on May the 20th , and the same day transferred him to Brezovo Polje, where his family was detained. According to D.V.’s stories, Edhem didn’t believe that his family was still alive. According to Cudic, in “Luka” women and children were also killed. During those months, Brcko had become a desolated city. Deserted streets, quarters, alleys. The air was full of hatred and foreboding. Life no longer existed. Since then, only drunken Chetnik existed in Brcko, and he was the “liberator and defender". During the night he’s looking for new victims in neighbourhoods and streets. Bosniaks and Croats who didn’t leave the city in time were left to the butchers who daily sought new human lives.

During the period from 20th May to 17th June, Cudic was being trapped in Brezovo Polje with his family. This village near Brcko was also a camp, although, officially it was not spoken of such status. To Bosniaks it had been planned that, in the event of trying any escape or swimming across the river Sava, the entire family would be shot. And in the last days spent with his family, Edhem was sentenced to believe in his idea- the idea of ​​justice, although he was not sure of his own future.

On the 17th June 1992. Cudic was again transferred to the camp "Luka". He remained there until its closure. At this point he found a large number of people from Brcko who were detained there in early May 1992. However, upon his arrival, Bosniaks and Croats were being divided into work units. One group of Brcko citizens worked on the "grooming" of the camp "Luka", right after its closing. All the buildings were cleaned, walls whitewashed, trash and garbage burned. That's what the Serbian Radio Brcko on 7th of August 1992 in its news report revealed: "... today the Minister of Information Velibor Ostojic visited Brcko with a group of journalists from international news agencies who have come to find the alleged concentration camps for Muslims and Croats. But what does not exist, the law of nature says - you cannot even find it."

Citizens of Brcko, and with them Edhem Cudic were transferred, after the camp “Luka’s” closure, to “Batkovic” camp near Bijeljina (at a date not known). There had been detained about 120 elderly people over 60 years old and also about 50 minors. When announced the arrival of a humanitarian organization, these martyrs were being hidden in nearby forests. There, they found many corpses, but the inmates were not allowed to talk about that to anyone. For a man to speak with Serbian soldiers at the camp, he had to say: "Lord, Serbian soldier, please, give me the permission to address." Otherwise, the beating to death followed. In the beatings were particularly prominent: Gligor of Gorazde, Veselin of Bijeljina, and the prisoner Dzemal Zejnilovic Rajcer, whose specialty was hitting with poles and stones. Eleven people were killed this way.

According to inmates, Cudic suffered all these inhuman acts and miseries for a long time. That morning, while the villagers waited at the gate of the camp to get prisoners to work on their farms, Cudic ran out and slapped the first peasant that was there. It was a good indication that the Cudic gotten over his own life, and wanted out of its misery and the security guard welcomed it. -The prisoner had hit a Serb, attacked Serbian nationhood. Burst bullets rang out, Cudic fell, but he mustered the strength to get up and shout:

“Shoot, but you cannot kill me!”

Another burst of bullets was heard, and the life Edhem, aka Ekrem Cudic was extinguished.

This is just one of the stories that circulated about his death. The inmates of this camp, said to the writer of this article, that they were not present at the murder, and that they do not know how this man, they considered a hero, was killed. Edhem aka Ekrem Cudic was killed on the October the 13th 1992, at 09:00 am. At 12:00 pm that same day, he was supposed to be freed through the exchange.

International Red Cross in Zagreb (Croatia) confirmed on 2nd of September 1994 with its Certificate that this organization regularly visited him since 18th of August to 7th of October 1992, and that at that time he was a mentally stable person. He was Salih and Hava Cudic’s third of eight children. He grew up in Brcko, in the Prnjavor neighbourhood (downtown area). He was closely bound to this town, so he never left if for too long. Thus, his invincible idea for truth, struggle and triumph left. The victory over all forms of man's scorn.

My God, make me stronger with HIS DEATH

The family’s only memento is the SEIKO watch, whose hands are still standing on the number 6, two photographs and a blue shirt. He left behind wife Senija and two children, Dijana and Edvin. The perpetrator of this crime may still be strutting around in his city, and perhaps he even knows his family. Edhem aka Ekrem Cudic was never found, nor was the body discovered. Is not known where the executioners buried him, nor does it know where to find the graves of other murdered civilians in the camp "Batkovic". According to claims, most of the corpses were dumped in Sava river.

However, the law of nature tells us that man is alive until his corpse is found...

Perhaps we will never reveal where they were killed and why they were disturbance to villains. But the killed ones will be heroes of our time. Those who have committed crimes have fallen. Those who died, died with dignity. Those who kill others remained a disgrace. Every trace of truth is greater than the history itself. History teaches us that something happened and a clue teaches us that it had happened against something and that it had directly damaged us.

Ratko Mladic is arrested, and Brcko’s butcher Jelisic (Serbian Adolf) is serving his 40 year sentence in Italy with delight. He still uses Internet, and he even has a profile on the Facebook social network. According to the testimonies of his latest visitors, Jelisić is writing a book about coexistence. The West provided general Mladić with a 15-square meters cell, with television and the Internet. Maybe he will miss the strawberries (which he sought in Belgrade prison), but it’s quite is possible that Serge Brammertz will provide them as well.

With this murder, one more in 525 civilians killed in a cruel way at the "Posavina" hotel, concentration camp "Luka", camp "Batkovic" DTV "Partizan" and the Brcko police station, one more death remained a mystery.

The family of Edhem aka Ekrem Cudic, like most families of the victims, will resound in the ears dull words of Mesa Selimovic: “Sons of Adam ... Maybe I should hate them, but I cannot. I don’t have two hearts, one for hatred and other for love. This one I have knows only sorrow. My grief is only mine.”

They methodically killed so there is a Bosniak less, the butcher may be ashamed that his foot stepped on foreign land. We remain with dignity, and their hands stained with the blood of an innocent man.

Now, I feel somewhat relieved, because I have shared it with you...

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