WHO NEEDS THE "VALTER" SCANDAL

Destiny of Banjaluka "spies"

AIM, December 10, 1995

Seventy-year old Safet Filipovic, graduated economist, was one of the renowned citizens of Banjaluka until war in Bosnia began. He is a member of one of the prominent old Muslim Banjaluka families about which a monograph was once published. In August last year, that same monograph was brutally torn to pieces in the house of family Filipovic. Members of the Security Service Centre did it when they came to search the house. On that same day, Safet was taken away for an "informative conversation" and has not returned home since.

He was in custody for a whole year, and then in the beginning of September this year, together with five other Banjaluka Muslims, convicted for "activities in spy organization 'Valter'" and sentenced to fifteen years in jail. At the same time, court martial in Banjaluka also sentenced Smail Djuzela (52) mechanical engineer to 13 years in jail, Zijahudin Smajlagic (55) pensioner to 11, Osman Gojacic (62) social worker to 20, Asim Jakirlic (58) surveyor to 14 years and 6 months, and Suhreta Djuzel (46) clerk to 12 years in jail.

Kafka in Banjaluka

The convicted persons are in Banjaluka military prison, serving their sentences, accused of "criminal act of espionage pursuant to Paragraph 1 of Article 128, and Paragraph 2 of Article 139 of the Criminal Act of the Republic of Srpska". Direct danger of war, as it is nowadays claimed at the Court Martial, was the aggravating circumstance for the accused, because punishments are more severe in such circumstances. Briefly, the bill of indictment reads that these people "were collecting military, economic and other data within the RS and sent them to the Muslim-Croat federation and agencies they serve." According to allegations in the bill of indictment, the group was jointly engaged in subversive activities against the newly created system of the Serbs in Bosnia.

The media in Banjaluka characterized this event as revelation of a great conspiracy organized by the Muslims. Departure of non-Serb population from Banjaluka accelerated at the time. Fear of new similar processes grew. Members of old Banjaluka Muslim and Croat families feared the possibility of being accused by the current regime even of destroying the famous Ferhadija, one of the most beautiful and oldest mosques not only in Banjaluka but in this part of the Balkans as well. Although "cleaning" of the city of all Islamic symbols ever since the first days of the war was controlled by newly established authorities, Kafkian processes also became part of Banjaluka reality.

• All the accused from "Valter" group presented themselves as the Forum of Citizens in Jeopardy, and in searches of their houses, slogans such as "Death to Serb Fascism" were found, various coded decuments with phone numbers, which indicatively showed that this was a matter of hostile activity - Srdjan Forca, judge of the Court Martial in Banjaluka, explains the evidence. He also adds that it is very difficult to prove the criminal act they were convicted of. - Such activities are usually concealed, secret. It is difficult to collect sufficient quantity of encriminating material evidence. Although we have quite enough of it.

Material evidence which helped this Court bring charges against the accused was a telefax found in the house of Zijahudin Smajlagic which was not even connected to the post-office network, but, as cited in the bill of indictment, Muharem Krzic, former President of the Party of Democratic Action from Banjaluka, often contacted Banjaluka from Zagreb by this fax. As claimed in Court, he sent coded messages to Smail Djuzela who was supposed to succeed in him in office. Two typewriters are also considered as material evidence, because texts with coded messages and bearing marks "Valter" and "Forum of Citizens in Jeopardy" were typed on them.

During the terrible exodus of the non-Serb population, judge Forca took as an aggravating circumstance for the accused the fact that they tried to inform the world public about suffering of their compatriots or even their wish to leave the city. He mentions that he judged solely on the basis of material evidence gathered by Banjaluka Security Service Centre. About the trial itself, he says that all the defendants denied that they were mutually linked in any way, especially the existence of the "Valter" group.

• The defendants claimed that messages had been of a personal nature, but that is not true. They were coded. They also all stressed that they had wished only to spur the world public to take interest in them who had been ethnically endangered, and to offer them a possibility to safely leave the city. The also mentioned Muslims who, as they claimed, had been taken in an unknown direction and killed - Forca says.

Court Martial in Banjaluka convicted Muslims who were not on the territory in the jurisdiction of this Court any more. To be more precise, or as the bill of indictment goes - persons who have fled. They are: Muharem Krzic (50) sentenced to 20 years of jail, Amir Novalija (52) who is in Velenje at the moment, also to 20 years, Ahmet Kozaragic (47) who is in Mali Losinj now, to 13 years, Kjazim Durakovic (54) who is in Zagreb, to 13 years, Samir Gradascevic (32) who is in Maribor, to 13 years, Alija Gunic (59), Midhat Smajic (48), and Fahrudin Prlja (39) who are all in Zagreb, to 11 years of prison. They were proclaimed guilty of crime of espionage or of collecting data for foreign secret services and assisting them in their work in some other way. Concerning the link between the two groups, Forca says "that they must have been in contact concerning their work."

Suffering of families

While these mostly elderly and ailing people stayed in jail for more than a year, their families were robbed, evicted, children went abroad. They all lived hoping that they would be exchanged, and their hopes soared sky high due to statements made by people from the Bureau for Displaced Persons. It appears that the authorities in Sarajevo were not interested in these "spies", and they served the authorities in Banjaluka to warn those who dared nominate those who were guilty of causing the ethnic split in this city.

Meliha Filipovic, a renowned Banjaluka lawyer, but also the sister of the convicted Safet Filipovic, was evicted in August from her house where she had lived together with her brother. For three and a half months this woman (well over seventy) milled around, because Dusan Pralica, coordinator of the War Headquarters of the "Republic of Serba Krajina" moved into her house. After Meliha had refused to move into his house in Dvor na Uni, Pralica simply threw her out and moved into her house which is one of the most beautiful houses in the city. Concerning this case, Meliha addressed the Mayor of Banjaluka, Predrag Radic, M.Sci., six times, but received no answer.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also tried to help in this case, and even informed the Vice Prime Minister, Nikola Koljevic, about it. As we learn, Koljevic was "surprised" and asked the Mayor of Banjaluka, Predrag Radic: "What is happening in the city of Banjaluka?". Nevertheless, there was no help for Meliha. She addressed the Security Service Centre in Banjaluka, she was even kindly received there, was given the opportunity to tell her story, but that was it. She brought criminal charges against Pralica and after almost four months of exile from her own home, the Court of first instance in Banjaluka passed a judgement in her favour. When she returned to her house, she found it empty, with no furniture, jewellery, crystal chandeliers, her personal clothing, with parquet floor distorted, unpaid telephone bill.

Meliha Filipovic is the defence council of her brother Safet. When the Court sentenced him to 15 years in jail, she wrote an appeal on five typed pages. In fact, she does not work as a lawyer any more, because all her files and documents had been left in the house and destroyed, and so was her seal, encyclopedia, typewriter, the document showing that she was an associate of the International Red Cross had also disappeared. She visits her brother four times a week, but does not wish to discuss his case. She had written everything she had to say in the appeal. She sought help from the Ambassador of Herzeg-Bosnian federation in Zagreb, he promised help, but nothing has been done. She was told by the Bureau of Displaced persons that there would be an exchange after all. She also sought help from Elisabeth Ran who visited Banjaluka and promised to intervene in behalf of these prisoners with Radovan Karadzic and Alija Izetbegovic. In the meantime, Meliha Filipovic became very ill, but she still takes care about her brother whose health has also been significantly damaged. She does not wish to leave Banjaluka and abandon him.

Safet Filipovic's sons are in Zagreb and Sweden. His wife has remained in Banjaluka and received Serb refugees in their house.

Children of Suhreta and Smail Djuzela are somewhere in Dalmatia, with their relatives. They are under age.

The wife of Asim Jakirlic is a Serb, she lives in Belgrade with her sixteen-year old son whom she smuggled to Serbia with forged documents. She was discharged from work in Banjaluka because of her "inept family name", Muslim. She is not capable of explaining to her son whether he is a Serb, a Muslim, nor why this has suddenly become important in his native city. She is a teacher by profession, ready to clean other people's homes, having hard time making ends meet. She has made a tour of all Western-European embassies trying to get a visa to go abroad, hoping that Asim would once be exchanged and for them who are mixed, as she says, a place under the sun would be found. She thinks that she is refused by the embassies because she is a Serb, because the Muslims and the Croats have priority on their lists. Her husband is seriously sick, he suffered two infarctions, and is under constant medication because of his ailing heart.

The wife of Osman Gojacic is also a Serb. There is no trace of her.

Is there any possibility that these families would ever meet again?

According to the words of Radovan Glogovac, head of the Bureau for Displaced Persons in Banjaluka, these people should soon be exchanged for the Serbs on the Muslim side. Judge Forca, however, says as follows: "Only the President of the RS, Dr Radovan Karadzic, can pass a liberating sentence, and only after this document is forwarded to the Court Martial, criminal proceedings against these people would be abolished and they could be exchanged."

It is a fact that all the convicted men in the "Valter" scandal had lived for years in peace with their neighbours of other nationalities. Noone had ever before noticed that they had any "peculiarity". The city itself is not what it used to be when the Muslims and the Croats lived in it, both the renowned ones, experts, and ordinary mortals, whose only sin was that they had ben born under a different name. If released from jail now, men from the "Valter" group would not even be able to meet most of their Serb friends, because many have left the "dark vilayet". All those who have left, will once bring charges of their own in the peace which is appearing.

(AIM) Radmila Karlas