This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
English to Bosnian English to German Serbo-Croat to English Serbo-Croat to German Croatian to English English to Croatian Serbian to English English to Serbian German to Croatian German to Serbian
This person has a SecurePRO™ card. Because this person is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber, to view his or her SecurePRO™ card you must be a ProZ.com Business member or Plus subscriber.
Affiliations
This person is not affiliated with any business or Blue Board record at ProZ.com.
Source text - German Source text published in the newspapers Die Zeit on the 25.11.2004 No. 49
Translation - English Die Zeit – Life: Murder for two weeks
Die Zeit, Hamburg, Germany
Die Zeit
Murderer for two weeks
The Serb Goran Jelisic called himself Adolf. As a Police officer during the civil war in Bosnia he enjoyed killing Muslims. Later he rescued lives. Today he is serving imprisonment sentence as a war criminal.
Written by Erwin Koch
At the beginning, following picture could be seen: Two men walk along the street, one ahead and the other behind him, the street, a dead end street, is covered with street plates, and the plates are full of sand and dust, at daylight. The one in the front is walking stiffly in a brown jacket and light shoes, the one behind is wearing a blue shirt with short sleeves, a police shirt, a rubber button is in his belt, it was war in Bosnia, it was the 6th May 1992, in the morning, they walk slowly, passed a man who was lying on the ground, on the left corner in the picture, blooded, dead, one of his arms was strangely twisted, as if he wanted to protect himself. The one behind is holding a gun in the right hand, a Scorpion with silencer; his arm is covered with a white bandage. Next to the road there is a house, which is today still there, an old house with large windows, at that time naked, today, twelve years later, covered with ivy. The one behind is pointing his weapon against the head of the one in front and shoots, the truth was an accident, this picture was not foreseen: Execution of a prisoner, Muslim, defenseless.
The photographer, a Serb, was called by Serbs to advertise the Serbian cause, to make propaganda, he was supposed to make a picture of an empty coffin, next to it a woman who is crying: a mourning Serbian woman at the coffin of her innocent husband, killed by Muslims. But the photographer came to early and caught with the camera what he saw, a crime, his picture circled around the world and won a price, World Press Photo Award 1993, Premier Prix Photos Individuelles. The war in Brcko, North Bosnia was going on for six days, the murderer, since two days in Police uniform, Goran Jelisic, a Bosnian Serb, twenty four, by occupation tractor driver, a person coming from the neighboring city Bijeljna, his second execution that day. Today there are green umbrellas standing in the short street, street without a name, Preminger Lager Beer, garden chairs with yellow pillows, Tuborg, Kodak, a shop selling wedding dresses, and Goran Jelisic, who wore for fourteen days in May a blue shirt, a pistol and handset make Motorola, is living in an Italian dungeon, sentenced to forty years of imprisonment by the War crime Tribunal of the United Nations in Den Haag, calls frequently his father and says: Papa please tell me something about fishing.
The father is skinny and tall; he is sitting bare feet on the sofa of his daughter-in-law Ana, maiden name Peri, in the ninth floor in Gavrila Princip Street 22, apartment 53, 76300 Bijeljina. A quite shy person behind large glasses, he is trying to smile. As a child, he says, Goran liked to play most with the ball.
Summer after summer, says the old man, we drove to Split to Goran’s uncle, Goran and me, in a small Fiat, and he was always so happy when he saw the sea, and if he was happy, I was too, and I can not forget that, it would be maybe better if I could.
Thick glass is protecting the coffee table, an embroidery, rose flowers, purple pigeons who are holding green branches in their beaks.
Goran’s childhood was normal, everything was normal, says the father and looks at the lawyer, who is sitting next to him, the lawyer, Veselin Londrovi keeps silent.
Young Goran never cried, only once when his grandmother died.
A life in Bijeljina, next to Drina River, which is dividing Bosnia from Serbia, forty thousand inhabitants, half of it Muslims, five Mosques, one Orthodox Monastery. On the 07th July 1968 Ivanka Jelisic gave birth, wife of the bookkeeper Aleksandar Jelisic, to a son, Goran, her second child, who turned out to be so different from the first child. Goran was loud, loved by many, a bad student and rarely at home. Goran never cried, only when his grandmother died, where he lived when his mother was sick. His parents forced him to school for eight years, his father took him fishing, taught Goran the difference between various fish, for days they sat at the Drina River in silence, politics was for politicians, dirty, despicable. Goran liked the girls, the girls liked him, he hated the work, Goran Jelisic became tractor driver and changed working places, which his father was finding for him, over and over, Jelisic became soldier of the Yugoslavian army, he was nothing special, did not attract any attention. Jelisic returned to his parents, to a small gray house in the north part of the city, Slobodana Jovanovic Street 5, an antenna on the roof, a garage in the garden. He changed his working places often and started to drink, he had no money, he started to cheat, forge, sixteen times, until the Police put him in prison in Tuzla on the 13th November 1990, he was twenty two years old. He stayed there until the 22nd February 1991, when he wrote a letter to the judge that he would kill himself if he had to stay longer there, he would shoot, poison, hang himself. The judge Veselin Londrovi sentenced him to four and a half years imprisonment; Jelisic appealed and was released, until the court passes a new decision, but then the war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Sarajevo, the capital, in Mostar and finally as well in Bijeljina, the nest in the north part where Drina is joining silently the Sava River.
Goran Jelisic should be only allowed one ten minutes phone call per week. But due to his good behavior in the Italian prison, and does not draw any attention, he is allowed to phone twice. He dials the number of his wife Ana, who becomes more and more said, and skinnier, and waits until he hears her voice. He says: I need you. And she replies: I need you too.
His souvenirs are placed on the light colored furniture on the wall, Goran in the gamble shop/playroom, half naked and smoking, Goran at his wedding party, Goran in a new jogging suit, clumsy, his look almost shy, frank, nice, Virgin Mary and her child are hanging under Goran’s picture, a saint with beard, she likes him like that, that is how the young girl fell in love with the man, at that time in a coffee bar in the center of Bijeljina town, when Ana believed the war was long over.
Ana Jelisic is sitting on a chair, one leg over the other; she is smiling, and does not know where with her long white nails.
It was love at first site, she says and smiles. Did you know that Goran Jelisic was wanted, that his name was on the list of possible war criminals? I heard about it, she says, but I did not care about it. Ana, what do you love about him? She kept silence for a while and twitched her hair, looks at the lawyer who nodded. Everything, she says, I love everything about him, I can not be without him, says Ana Jelisic. Goran is a honest person, says his father. Charming, whispers Ana.
It was war and Goran killed fifteen times, which was proved.
She was sixteen, when she saw him first time in the coffee bar in the center of the ordinary city Bijeljina, which had once five Mosques, now five hills made of white ruins. Goran Jelisic was twenty seven, war veteran, he sat at her table, and he was funny and mild. In February 1995 moved to his place in Slobodan Jovanovic Street, they married in September; Ana gave birth to a son in October. The son was named after his grandfather, Goran’s father, bookkeeper in the school, Aleksandar.
The picture, which made Goran Jelisic famous, showed him from the back. His hair is black, short and clean, a trimmed person in a clean blue shirt. When the man, who was walking in front of him, stiff of fear, was lying on the ground, hit by a bullet, Jelisic shoots one more bullet into the head. This is the manner in which he killed in fourteen days in May at least 15 other persons, but most probably with more then hundred.
Goran Jelisic.
I have always loved him, says his father, and I still do, I have no other choice. Do you feel guilty? He keeps silence, waved his hand in denial, soundless and old, he opens his mouth and wants to speak, but he has no voice. Water in the eyes. One evening, he says now defiant, he, Aleksandar Jelisic came home, and found his wife in tears, in April 1992, when the war broke out in Bijeljina, that war, a monster with hundred tales and thousand heads. The wife said, a man had called and had said that Goran was on the top of the list of those who the Muslims wanted to kill. Later, Goran came home and heard it. We drove away and hid in a village, next to the road leading to Belgrade, and during nights, so it was told by neighbors later, men were gathering around the house in Slobodan Jovanovic Street, wearing gloves, were banging on the door and windows, and left after they could not find Goran.
That night, says the father in a loud voice, the war started for Goran. They wanted to kill him. Why? It was war in Bijeljina, all against all. Ana twitches her hair and does not know what to do with her long white nails. And then? He went to Brcko, forty kilometers from here. As a volunteer. Where he received a uniform, and a blue Police shirt. His bane. And mine.
The city Brcko in North Bosnia, was, before the terror started there, on the 30th April 1992 a peaceful place, forty thousand inhabitants, majority Muslims. Brcko is located on the south bank of the Sava River, which is dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina from Croatia. Brcko has a port, Luka. The compound is stretching over hundred meters, on the left the warehouses, and on the right side the offices. Brcko had for the Bosnian Serbs a strategic significance, therefore they tried to drive out all non Serbs. In the early morning hours on the 30th April 1992, without any warning, they blew up the bridge over the River, and with the bridge a dozen of people. The beginning of the Serbian aggression. Goran Jelisic arrived in Brcko on that very day. Serbian men drove Moslims and Croats out of their houses and locked them up in the sports halls, hotels, in warehouse number 1 in Luka, the walls of the warehouses are today colored pink-red.
Sometimes, over the telephone, Goran Jelisic asks: How is the weather there? He never cries when he calls. He says: The life in Italy is not bad. Then Ana, now twenty six years old, tells him, that her son is the best in the class. Jelisic asks: Is he going fishing? Ana is barely eating, barely sleeping, she is waiting for Goran and her life, she takes pills, and before she collapses out of weakness, her mother takes her to the hospital. Ana twitches her hair and smiles bravely.
There is no father as gentle to his child as he is, whispers Ana and looks at the lawyer.
One day, when the war was long over, 1997, Goran Jelisic, who had tried to work as shop keeper, bookkeeper and tractor driver, entered the lawyer’s office of the former judge Veselin Londrovi. Londrovi did not recognize him, could not remember that he had six years earlier convicted the petty criminal to four and a half years of imprisonment. Jelisic told him that UN troops and SFOR were secretly photographing him, they want to take him to Den Haag to the War Crime Tribunale, he asked Londrovi for help, for his defense, if he would be caught.
Ana, was your husband never sad? He was sad, when somebody called and warned him he had to hide again, he would leave the house and went to the River fishing, in fishing he found his peace. Yes, says his father, his fishing. An aquarium in Gavrila Principa 22/53, on top of it a small wooden roof. They are drinking coffee in silence.
In the morning on the 22nd January 1998, a Thursday, Ana Jelisic was standing at the window in her apartment and looked down on the street, she was thinking about her husband Goran, had had slept badly, and when he stood up, he had asked for tranquillizers, she looked down and saw him crossing the road which leads to Brcko. A man attacked him, threw him on the ground, other men came too, blocked the road, handcuffed Jelisic and pulled him into a vehicle. The same evening he phoned and said that he was in Den Haag and asked to call the lawyer.
I can not understand, whispers the old father, can not understand. He pulls up his large glasses. Can not understand that he had killed so many people, Muslims, Muslims were his friends, we went fishing with Muslims, Muslims were our neighbors.
Four days after his arrest, on the 26th January 1998, at two in the afternoon, Goran Jelisic, now thirty years old, was standing before his judges, in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), case number IT-95-10-PT, and gave kindly his personal data: My name is Goran Jelisic, known as well as Adolf, born on the 07th July 1968 in Bijeljina, by occupation agriculture machine handler.
I do not understand, says the father.
The court clerk read the indictment, Genocide of Muslims, Violation of the war laws or laws and customs governing the conduct of war in sixteen cases, therefore murder, cruel treatment, plundering, as well as crimes against humanity in fifteen cases, committed between the 06th and 20th of May 1992. One judge asked Jelisic to plead to all counts. Jelisic stated that it was not necessary, the whole indictment was made up and wrong, he spoke the following words fifty nine times: not guilty, not guilty, not guilty. For the rest, he says, he has nothing to add.
Ten out of eighteen witnesses, that we provided for Goran’s defence were Muslims, says the lawyer, Veselin Londrovi, ten out of eighteen, who spoke about Goran Jelisic only the best.
The defence lawyer looked through the papers of a blue folder.
Here, the witness DJ, a Muslim, who was mistreated by Serbs. Goran helped him to escape to Croatia, as well as helped his father and his sisters. Because, as soon as Goran came back from Brcko to Bijeljina, end of May 92, he did only good things. Or witness DI, Muslim, a woman who went to school with Goran. Goran came several times to her house, gave her money, bought medicine for her sick child, she said: Goran was like a brother to me, Goran will always be to me what he was before. Witness DD, Muslim, he told that Goran had bought a new window for an old Muslim woman, after some Serbs had thrown a hand grenade during the night. Witness DE, Muslim, who Jelisic had transported in his fishing boat in the night in November 92 over Drina River and saved his life. He said in Den Haag that he knew in his street, at least seven or eight Muslim families who Goran had helped. Who said: Goran was always a decent person. Witness DG, Muslim, to whom Goran gave money, for the surgery of his son who suffered from milt in January 1993. Or AD, President of the fishing club, a Macedonian, who said that he could not believe that the famous photographs from the 6th May 1992 really showed Goran, because Goran was different, nice, decent and friendly. Despite the confession of Goran to be the person on the photograph, in a blue police shirt, with a Scorpion in his hand and Motorola in his belt.
He was the first who was indicted in Den Haag for genocide.
Ana says: Sometimes he says over telephone: you smell like poppy and thyme.
Ana does not work, no pension, she used to be a hair dresser, had just finished her training period, when she met Goran Jelisic in a coffee bar, he was so smooth, now she is waiting for him, helps her mother, waits, and when Aleksandar, her son, asks where his father is, she answers: Far away, because he was in the war and he has to hide. Then the son asks: When is he coming back? And Ana replies: Some time, most probably soon.
Ana does not want that anybody makes a picture of her. Now she is taking her son on her lab, who has short brown hair, kisses him and holds him, he wants to get away, she tries to smile.
Ten out of eighteen witnesses of the defence were Muslims, says the lawyer, and touches his golden ring, on the right small finger, he says: As far as I know this has not happened anymore until today in Den Haag.
Goran Jelisic.
He answers politely to the judges when he was standing in front of them for the second time on the 29th November 1998, quarter to ten in the morning, he said, good day Your Honour, he thanked, when the judge ordered him to sit down. The court clerk read the amended indictment and again Jelisic pleaded not guilty regarding the genocide, but pleaded guilty for thirty four times regarding the violation of laws and customs governing the conduct and crimes against humanity, he wanted, by confessing, to save his soul.
My son is not a monster, says the father, he can not be a monster. Do dream nights about him? I dream about him often, says the old bookkeeper, we are standing at the Drina River bank and are fishing in silence, and when Goran has a fish on the hook, maybe a catfish or a sturgeon, such big, then he is so happy, and when he is happy I am happy.
Defence lawyer Veselin Londrovi, called the process important and historical, since the Court of the United Nations in Den Haag raised an indictment for the first time for genocide, Case number IT-95-10-PT, it was the 30th November 1998, ten to three afternoon, Jelisic thanked after he was allowed to sit down, he was sitting between two police officers in grey shirts, handcuffs at the belts as well as rubber buttons, Jelisic is wearing a black pullover, with a narrow face, short hair, which he is washing often, long thin fingers, he was sitting calm and serious there, he had a cup of tee in front of him, a monitor, and he was waiting, one prosecutor, Terree Bowers started. The face of genocide, shouted he in the room, was the face of Goran Jelisic.
On the 3rd May 1992, maybe on the 04th, he was standing in the Police station in Brcko, in a long grey building, which the Serbs had conquered, today there is a European and the Bosnian flag hanging there, the tree whish is standing in front of the entrance is nicely trimmed. Somebody handed over to Jelisic the blue police shirt, a pistol with silencer, a rubber button, the handset make Motorola, and he was told by somebody: when you answer the handset call yourself Adolf.
Adolf.
On the 06th somebody said: now you have to pass the test, shoot two Turks. Goran Jelisic, since two days in uniform, called for one Muslim from the Police station, randomly, room 13, he did not know the man, light pullover, left corner in the picture, he walked a few steps with him, Jelisic behind him, he in front defenceless, they turned into the next street, a dead end street, covered with plates, Jelisic shot him in the head, then he called for the second man, he walks stiffly with his shoulders up, in a brown jacket and light shoes, an unknown man, his body was never found, the picture circled around the world, bird nests under the roof of the police station Brcko, October 2004, video cameras on every corner.
Later the same day, in company of a soldier, Goran Jelisic entered the house of the bus company Laser, in which Muslim prisoners were kept, he introduced himself, I am the Serbian Adolf, he dragged the Muslim Kemal Sulejmanovic in front of the building and killed him. After him Hasan Jasarevic, who tried to flee from the Police station. After him a man from the area Sinteraj. After him Ahmed Hodzic, leader of SDA Brcko, Democratic Action Party. Jelisic said to him before he shot him: Look at your town once more, you see it for the last time. After him a man named Suad, then Amir Novalic, also called Fritz. It was the 6th May. Baptism of fire.
From the 7th to the 20th May, stated the prosecutor of the Tribunal in the room, Goran Jelisic was in Luka, the port of the city. There he was almighty. Chief executor.
At quarter after five in the afternoon, the Chairman of the Court, Claude Jorda, calls the first witness of the Prosecution to the stand, witness A, who sat behind a curtain, whose words that he spoke in the microphone were changed. How old are you?, asked the Prosecutor. Thirty seven. Are you Muslim? Yes. Where did you live before the war witness A? In Brcko. Have you been in the prisoner’s camp Luka?
When we arrived there we had to stand in line. They started to beat us. Five minutes later Goran Jelisic came. He said he was the director of the camp, we would be questioned, and who was guilty would be shot and who was innocent would be released, but he would not believe that a Muslim could be innocent. New prisoners were brought, Jelisic introduced himself as the Serbian Adolf, and that he was a member of the Commandos that bombed the bridge over Sava River on the 30th April, when hundreds of people got killed, men, women and children, he also said that he had killed already in Luka hundred and fifty Muslims and that he was not thinking to stop.
A witness: I thought, soon or later all of us would be killed.
The Prosecutor asked: Could you recognize him? I think so said witness A, he has a large scar on his arm. Because he told us, prisoners in Luka, that Croats had inflicted the wound, that he was prisoner of the Croats, who had put salt in the wound, to make it more painful, told Jelisic. Witness A, what happened in the first night of your stay in Luka? We were driven into the warehouse and had to sit down on the concrete floor. We sat there until evening, and then they closed the gates and started to sing, we will exterminate you, you Turks, pigs. Such things As well music from tapes, Serbian songs. Around midnight the gates were opened, somebody shouted: we need four volunteers to do something. Four men went outside, we could hear shouts, they were beaten, we could hear them groaning, their wining. The four men were called names: Sons of Muslim whores. Such things. They were beaten. They begged: Stop with it, I have done nothing, I am innocent, innocent. Then I heard one voice, which I later heard every night. Night by night. An order. Lie down. The head on the sewage drain. Then you could hear begging. Don’t do it. Why not? I have done nothing. I am innocent. Then I heard a silent shot. Somehow the ground, on which I was sitting jittered, it was so close. Minutes later again the begging. Why me? I have lived with the Serbs in peace my whole life long, I have never offended a Serb. Then again a silent shot, and one more. I heard it on my very first night, I have not seen it. But during the third night I was a volunteer. Before I went out of the warehouse that night, before me there were already ten other four men groups. We knew what awaited us. The soldiers were standing at the gate and shouting: Come out. Otherwise we will come in and pick you. I went. I went because I did not want to live anymore. Since the 3rd of May I was beaten and humiliated. I did not want to live anymore, I could not stand such life anymore. And I thought soon or later everybody will be killed, it does not matter if it is today or tomorrow. I could not stand it anymore and I went out. Immediately they started to beat us and to call us names. There is no rescue for you, you sons of whores. We, four volunteers had to stand in line, head bend down, hands on the back. I was third in the row. One man ordered the man next to me to lie down and to place the head on the sewage gutter. He was crying, he begged. I think they enjoyed it. As more somebody was begging so more they enjoyed killing him. Twenty against one. They were celebrating. Jelisic shot. Then they ordered us, who were still standing in line, to carry the dead man behind the warehouse, where a refrigerator vehicle was standing, a vehicle of the company Bimeks, we threw the dead body inside and I saw that other dead bodies were inside already. We came back, they beat us with rifles and sticks, they were yelling constantly: the same will happen now to you. Again we were standing in line, three of us, I was the first, then they ordered the man who was standing next to me: Put the head on the sewage gutter. Jelisic shot. He said: one pig less. Again the ordered us to carry the dead person behind the warehouse and to throw him into the refrigerator vehicle. They were beating, yelling and they enjoyed it. I thought it was my turn. But they send us, the once who remained, back to the warehouse and said to us: Be ready tomorrow or day after tomorrow it will be your turn. Shortly after, after ten or fifteen minutes, maybe less, because minutes were like hours and hours like years, they ordered four more volunteers out, it was going on like this until four or five in the morning. Then, night after night, after they stopped killing, they took seven or eight prisoners to wash off the blood, blood was everywhere, on the sewage gutter, on the way to the refrigerator vehicle, night after night.
Goran Jelisic was a tidy man.
When he was interrogating prisoners, he let other beating them, if he was beating, then only with a stick, cable or shovel.
Once, after the murder of Huso and Smajil Zahirovic, two brothers, when he got dirty from their blood, he ordered the prisoner Jasminko Cumurovic to lick the blood from his hand.
Cumurovic licked and Jelisic shot in his head.
Sometimes Jelisic said to the prisoners of Luka: I am not raping, I am not torturing, I kill. He said: Before my morning coffee I kill twenty or thirty Muslims. And: Hitler was the first Adolf, I am the second. I do not touch dead bodies. He said: I kill decent and neat.
Sometimes he entered the warehouse 1 and picked personally: You, you, you and you.
Sometimes he forced the Muslim prisoners, to sing a Serbian song, three times without mistakes, the song had the following words: Who says, who lies. Jelisic conducted and laughed and called his soldiers to watch him and to laugh, the prisoners choir from Luka, gutless Muslim dogs, who were singing the song of the enemy, at the bank of the Sava River, with the blood of their dead.
The prisoners did not dare to look him in the eyes.
He cut off the ear of the Croatian lawyer Stipo Glavocevic, an old and fat person and he ordered him, with the ear in his hand, to return to the warehouse, where today in October 2004 furniture, beds, sofas, closets, tables and chairs are stored, and let him beg there that somebody releases him from his pain, to shoot him. Jelisic offered the prisoners the Scorpion, nobody wanted it. He took the man out: If you lick my boots, I will do it for you. The lawyer licked the boots.
Goran Jelisic.
He was too happy while killing. On the 19th or 20th of May 1992 a certain Major Dzurkovic came to the warehouse, with Jelisic on his side, the Major was wearing the Uniform of the Yugoslav army, Jelisic the blue Police shirt and the Major said to Jelisic: Since of today it is forbidden to kill prisoners in Luka or to mistreat them, understand?
The prisoners, so told the witness A in the courtroom of the United Nations, started to applaud. Some of them lifted Jelisic on their shoulders. It was so painful. I could not understand why they lifted this monster on their shoulders after all he had done. I would have rather died then to praise Jelisic. But later I could understand it. Because the words, which we had heard just now meant our new birth, said witness A behind the curtain which protected him, Den Haag 30th November 1998, 18:13.
Goran Jelisic, without power and uniform, went to the town of his parents, lived again in their house in Slobodan Jovanovic street, antenna on the roof, garage in the garden, and did good things, he rescued Muslims lifes.
Goran.
The convict Goran cried loudly when his mother died a few month ago.
Sometimes he phones from Italy and asks his father: Papa, tell me about fishing.
Court psychiatrists tried to find the terms, Nils Duits and Bernard van den Bussche, they talked about personality disturbance, borderline, externalization, immaturity. Jelisic was on the level of an sixteen year old when he got power, his whole behavior was unconsciously directed with the aim to be recognized, by killing to prove his obedience and by rescuing lives to seek for a way not to be punished, the defendant does not posses his own identity and takes constantly the identity of those who are around him. Easily to be manipulated, unready.
Human being.
Colored plates are in the cupboard, handmade, small ashtrays, big ashtrays, vases, scarves, napkin holders, candle holders, everything in colors and cheerily, a small green crocodile with big white eyes, Goran’s presents from the dungeon to his son Aleksandar, who does not know what his father is doing, to his wife Ana, who is afraid to go to Brcko, to the dead end street, where the picture was taken, which can not be erased, the murderer behind and the victim in the front.
The human being Goran Jelisic cried loud and sobbed when his mother died a few months ago, mama, Ivanka Jelisic on the 04th July 2004.
The father is sitting bare feet on the sofa in silence, pulls up the large glasses.
And Ana, when she is awake she thinks: God forgive. Otherwise God would not be God. Only a human being.
Die Zeit 25.11.2004 No.49
Bosnian to English: Croatia and Slovenia a step to the agreement and reopening of negotiations
Source text - Bosnian Hrvatska i Slovenija na korak do dogovora i deblokade pregovora
Bruxelles, 23.04.2009., 07:22 | D. Ma.
Najnoviji prijedlog europskog povjerenika za proširenje Ollija Rehna dobra je osnova za pronalaženje rješenja za hrvatsko-slovenski granični spor i u velikoj mjeri sadrži dobro poznata hrvatska stajališta, izjavio je danas u Bruxellesu hrvatski ministar vanjskih poslova Gordan Jandroković.
Rehnov prijedlog, koji podupire predsjednička trojka, dobra je osnova za pronalaženje prihvatljiva rješenja i taj prijedlog u velikoj mjeri sadrži dobro poznata hrvatska stajališta, dakle razdvajanje hrvatskog pregovaračkog procesa od bilateralnih pitanja, deblokadu hrvatskih pristupnih pregovora i rješavanje graničnog pitanja u skladu s međunarodnim pravom, pred međunarodnim pravosudnim tijelom. Postoje još neki elementi o kojima moramo obaviti političke konzultacije u Hrvatskoj i vjerujem da će Hrvatska vrlo brzo izići sa svojim konačnim stajalištem', izjavio je Jandroković nakon niza sastanaka održanih u srijedu u Bruxellesu.
Jandroković se prvo sastao s Rehnom, koji se također zasebno sastao sa slovenskim ministrom vanjskih poslova Samuelom Žbogarom.
Na sastanku i predstavnici predsjedničke trojke
Nakon toga održan je zajednički sastanak Rehn-Žbogar-Jandroković, a popodne su im se pridružili predstavnici predsjedničke trojke EU-a, koju tvore Francuska, Češka i Švedska. Češko predsjedništvo predstavljao je ministar vanjskih poslova Karel Schwarzenberg, buduće švedsko predsjedništvo državni tajnik u ministarstvu vanjskih poslova Frank Belfrage, a prijašnju predsjedateljicu Francusku državni tajnik za europske poslove Bruno Le Maire.
Po najnovijem prijedlogu graničnu crtu na kopnu i moru između Hrvatske i Slovenije određivao bi petoročlani arbitražni sud u skladu s međunarodnim pravom. Po jednog člana odredila bi Hrvatska i Slovenija, a preostala tri člana dvije bi zemlje odredile zajednički. Ako se ne mognu dogovoriti, preostala tri člana imenovao bi predsjednik Međunarodnog suda pravde.
Translation - English Croatia and Slovenia a step to the agreement and reopening of negotiations
Bruxelles , 23.04.2009., 07:22/D.Ma.
The newest proposal of the European representative for enlargement Olli Rehn is a good ground for finding a solution for the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute and it includes to a large extent the well known Croatian standpoints, stated Gordan Jandrokovic, Croatian Foreign Affairs Minister, today in Bruxelles.
“Rehn’s proposal, which is supported by all three presidents, is a good ground for finding an acceptable solution and this proposal includes to a large extent the well known Croatian standpoints, separating the Croatian negotiation process from bilateral issues, re-opening of Croatian association negotiations and solving of the border issue in accordance with international law before the international judicial bodies. There are still some elements which need to be politically consulted in Croatia and we believe that Croatia will soon come out with a standpoint”, stated Jandrokovic after his meeting held on Wednesday in Bruxelles.
Jandrokovic meet first with Rehn, who had as well a separate meeting with the Slovenian Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Zbogar.
After that joint meeting was held Rehn-Zbogar-Jandrokovic, and in the afternoon representatives of the EU presiding troika, led by France, Check Republic and Sweden joint the meeting. Check presidency was presented by the Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, future Swedish presidency State Secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry Frank Belfrage, and former chairman the French State Secretary for European issues Bruno Le Maire.
According to the newest proposal the borderline on land and sea between Croatia and Slovenia would be determined by an arbitration court, counting five members, in accordance with international laws. One member would be selected by Croatia and Slovenia and three members would be selected by both countries together. In case an agreement could not be reached the remaining three members would be appointed by the International Court of Justice.
English to German: Crisis watch
Source text - English CrisisWatch N°68, 1 April 2009
(International Crisis Group, http://www.crisisgroup.org )
Summary (369 words)
Nine conflict situations around the world deteriorated and two improved in March 2009, according to the new issue of the International Crisis Group’s monthly bulletin CrisisWatch, released today.
In Sudan, fears of a rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions and security in Darfur mounted after Khartoum expelled 13 international aid organizations, following the International Criminal Court pre-trial chamber’s 4 March decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Bashir for atrocity crimes. The UN estimates that up to 1.5 million are at risk of losing food, water and shelter, while tensions in the capital continue to rise as the government moves to brutally repress signs of pro-ICC support.
The situation continued to deteriorate in Sri Lanka, where intense fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers left hundreds dead and many more wounded. Some 150,000 civilians remain trapped in the violence, many in declared “safe zones” where shelling by government forces has continued. In North Korea, the government’s early-month announcement of its intention to launch a communications satellite in early April prompted outcry from regional states and the U.S. over the country’s nuclear ambitions, at the same time underscoring the urgent need for a calm, coordinated effort to bring Pyongyang back to the Six-Party Talks.
Guinea-Bissau entered a period of considerable political uncertainty after the early month assassination of the army chief and several senior officers, followed hours later by an attack on the presidential compound killing longstanding President Vieira. In Madagascar, former Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina was installed as the country’s new president in defiance of the constitution after dissident troops overran the presidential palace, bringing thousands to the streets in protest. The situation also deteriorated in Kenya, which saw the murder of two prominent rights activists and growing strains within the fragile coalition government, as well as in the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and Northern Ireland.
Hopes for stability in Burundi were raised as the former rebel group FNL began a long-awaited demobilization process and, after some controversy, President Nkurunziza announced a new electoral commission welcomed by both government and opposition. The situation also improved in Guadeloupe, where a deal between union leaders and the government ended the general strike that saw demonstrations turn violent in February.
Translation - German Entsprechend der heute freigegebenen neuen Angaben in der Monatsnachricht der internationalen Krisengruppe „CrisisWatch“, Neun Konfliktsituationen in die Welt haben sich im März 2009 verschlechtertet und zwei verbessert.
In Sudan ist die Furcht vor einer schnellen Verschlechterung der humanitären Bedingungen und Sicherheit in Darfur gesteigert, nachdem Khartoum 13 internationale Hilfsmittelorganisationen vertrieb, als eine Antowrt gegen die Entscheidung der internationalen Strafkammer am 4. März, einen Haftbefehl für Präsidenten Bashir für Grausamkeitverbrechen herauszugeben.
Die UNO schätzt, daß bis 1.5 Million an der Gefahr sind Nahrung, Wassers und Schutz zu verlieren, während Spannungen im der Hauptstadt sich weiter steigern weil die Regierung jede Zeichen der Pro-ICC Unterstützung brutal zu unterdrücken versucht.
Die Situation faehrt fort sich weiterhin zu verschlechtern in Sri Lanka, wo intensive Kämpfe zwischen Regierungskräften und den Tamil-Tigern Hunderte von Tote und noch mehr verwundete hinter sich laesst.
Ca. 150.000 Zivilisten blieben zwanglsaeufig eingeschlossen, viele von ihnen in erklärten „sicheren Zonen“, wo Regierungkräfte weiterhin bombardieren.
Die vorherige Ansage der Regierung von Nordkorea ueber die Absicht einen Nachrichtensatelliten anfangs April zu lansieren, hat einen Protest gegen die nukelaren Ziele dieses Landes in der Region und der US herforgerufen, die gleichzeitig das dringende Bedürfnis um eine ruhige und koordinierte Bemühung, Pyongyang zurück zu den Sechs-Partei Gesprächen zu holen, unterstrichen.
Guinea-Bissau ist zur Zeit in einer beträchtlichen politischen Ungewißheit nach der Ermordung des Armeeleiters und einiger Vorgesetzter anfangs diesen Monats, das nach einigen Stunden den Angriff an den Wohsitz des Presidenten ausloeste und die Toetung des langjaehrigen Präsidenten Vieira.
In Madagaskar wurde der ehemalige Bürgermeister von Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, wieder gesetzlich, als der neue Präsident des Landes ernannt, nachdem Dissidenttruppen den Präsidentenpalast besetzten und Tausende von Meschen auf den Strassen protestierten.
Die Situation verschlechterte sich auch in Kenia, wo zwei Rechtaktivisten ermordet wurden und wegen der anwachsenden Belastungen innerhalb der zerbrechlichen Koalitionregierung, sowie in der Republik Zentralafrika, die Sierra Leone und das Nordirland.
Hoffnungen für Stabilität in Burundi sind gewachsen, während die ehemalige rebellische Gruppe FNL einen langerwarteten Demobilisierungprozeß anfing und, nach einigen Kontroversen, Präsident Nkurunziza eine neue Wahlkommission verkündete, die durch Regierung und Opposition begrüßt wurde.
Die Situation verbesserte auch in Guadeloupe, in dem ein Abkommen zwischen Anschlußführern und der Regierung den Generalstreik beendete, der in sich im Februar in heftige Demonstrationen verwandelt hatte.
More
Less
Experience
Years of experience: 28. Registered at ProZ.com: Apr 2009.
My name is Jasmina Djukanovic. For the last 13 years I have been working as a language assistant for UN peace keeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and EUPM European Union Police Mission. My task is translation from Bosnian to English and vice versa.
Before 1992 I have worked for a company in Sarajevo as language assistant for translations from Bosnian to German and vice versa.
I completed secondary school in Germany/Frankfurt and after that I completed two additional years of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina/Sarajevo.
Besides my regular employment I am providing written translations in German/English/Bosnian in various fieds such as marketing, agriculture, finance, medicine, contracts, agreements etc.