Sarajevo and Bosnia Travel Guide

Two weeks ago I arrived at The Hague, Netherlands to visit a friend of mine, N., who interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She and I taught at the same high school in Sarajevo in 2006. I flew at 6:20 a.m., thus all I wanted to do the rest of the morning was to take quick nap before exploring the city. Eventually she convinced me to follow her to work and then went to the trial of the Bosnian Serb, Vojislav Seselj, founder and former president of the Radical Serbian Party. Being a brilliant lawyer, Seselj defended himself against a panel of three judges and three/four prosecutors. On that day, the court interrogated him for crimes committed against Croatian civilians because all questions, facts and evidence focused on Croats and villages in Croatia; also the word “Frandjo Tudman” and “Utasha” came up frequently.

I had not had a fainted idea of Seselj before arriving at the trial. He made a good impression on me with his composure and his dominating of the invisible witness by his line of questioning. The witness kept saying “yes” and “i also heard that” and “i read that” to the majority of Seselj’s questions regarding Serb civilians being discriminated and oppressed under Tujdman’s regime.

Seselj studied law with my friend N.’s uncle at Sarajevo University and visited her grandparents’ house during the good old days when he was a “normal” man. “He was extremely smart and polite before he became crazy with his ideology.” She said. “You saw how he kept looking at me from the inside. He hates that he’s in there, and I’m out here.” “Why is that so?” I asked. “Uh, ’cause he and his men tried to kill people like me.” (My friend N. wears a head-scalf.)

Neither did I have paper and pen to jot down keywords nor I was allowed to take notes. Only visitors with press badges, who sit on the left side, can do this. For a complete transcript of the trial and video feeds of the courtroom, please check out the links below.

Notes: The trials are open to the public for free. You get a visitor ticket from the security-guarded reception, and then you can proceed to the courtrooms after leaving all electronics and dangerous objects in a locker.

Resources