Feature Archives

By testifying about beatings and sexual abuse suffered in Russian captivity, a woman from eastern Ukraine aims to inspire others to testify in order to document as many crimes as possible for ongoing and future trials. Comparing the experiences of suffering and trauma with those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some Ukrainian activists fear that high-ranking Russian officials who gave orders will never be prosecuted.

Modelled on a similar project in Sarajevo, the War Childhood Museum in Kyiv documents Ukrainian children’s memories of their everyday life during the ongoing invasion.

The small town of Hostomel, close to Kyiv, took centre stage in early 2022 during the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Countless war crimes committed by the Russian army against the residents of Hostomel are currently under investigation and part of court proceedings. One such investigation was initiated by Lazer Taras, a local documentary filmmaker who told the Detektor team his story in the very street where Russian soldiers killed his neighbours.

Sarajevo-born Dzemil Hodzic uses his personal experience of searching for photographs of his brother, who was killed in the Bosnian war, to help preserve the memories of people who have lost their lives in contemporary conflict zones.

Some of the remains of people killed in the July 1995 genocide haven’t been unidentified and remain in storage. A new repository is being built at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre to finally give them a dignified resting place.

In April 1993, on one of the most tragic days of the Bosnian war, 116 Bosniaks were murdered in the village of Ahmici and 22 Croats were killed in the village of Trusina. Thirty years on, survivors are still mourning.

At the start of the Bosnian war, Albanians’ shops were attacked in the city of Doboj and Fadila Huduti’s husband was seized by Serb forces. When she read that a suspect was finally going on trial, she knew she had to tell her story.

Ahead of the appeal in the Hague court’s trial of former Serbian State Security chiefs Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, the widow of a man killed by Serb fighters operating in Bosnia in 1995 said she wants to see justice done.

Since the Netherlands started offering compensation to relatives of certain Srebrenica genocide victims because Dutch peacekeeping troops failed to protect them, millions of euros have been paid out but several thousand applications are pending.

Since the Uborak and Sutina massacres, the most serious war crimes in the Herzegovina region during the 1990s conflict, the victims’ families have been calling for a dignified memorial, but have faced indifference from ethno-nationalist political leaders.

Feature

Ukrainian Woman Testifies About Sexual Abuse to Help Document Russian Crimes

Testimonies and Teddies: Ukraine’s War Childhood Museum Follows Bosnia’s Example

The Hostomel Filmmaker: Hunt for war criminals with the help of surveillance cameras

Bosnian’s Wartime Photo Memory Project Focuses on Gaza and Ukraine

Unidentifiable Genocide Victims’ Remains to be Laid to Rest in Srebrenica

One Day, Two Massacres: Remembering Bosnia’s Ahmici and Trusina Atrocities

My Missing Husband: How Bosnia’s War Devastated an Albanian Family

Serb Paramilitary Killers Must Face Justice, Bosnian Widow Pleads

Netherlands Pays €8.7 Million to Srebrenica Victims’ Relatives

Mostar’s Unpunished Massacres, Part 3: The Long Wait for a Memorial

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