Dragica Bozanic: I didn't even want to look at Thaci in the courtroom; I don't expect justice in The Hague

„I didn't even want to look at them. I entered the courtroom, and even before that I was determined, I would go for justice to the end of the world if necessary.“ This is how Dragica Bozanic, a witness of the Special Court for KLA crimes, described her recent appearance before the judges in The Hague, when she found herself in the same room with former KLA commanders Thaci, Veseli, Krasniqi, and Selimi, in a quiet voice and with eyes full of tears. The same one whose soldiers kidnapped and killed Dragica's son Nemanja and her husband Mladen in the village of Opterusa near Orahovac in the summer of 1998.

Dragica did not want to "hide", to be a protected witness, but she is one of the few so far, who testified under her full name and surname about the tragedy she experienced.

"When I entered the courtroom, I didn't want to catch their eyes (author’s note Thaci, Veseli and others). They told me that they would be on the right when you entered, but I was determined - I don't need to see them I'm going for what I said on the first day - I'm not giving up, I'm going to the end of the world," Dragica Bozanic, who welcomed us to her house, begins the story. In the room, behind her on the wall, pictures of her husband and son who were kidnapped and killed by the KLA. Officially, their remains were found in 2006, but Dragica does not believe that.

"There is no justice for us. God grant that it be in The Hague. I remember that everything was a bit hasty when it came to finding the remains. We went to a meeting in Belgrade, and they told me to take over the bones of my husband and then my son when they found them. So they said. I said that it was not joy that I gathered the family, now my husband, and then my son. Then after a few days, they called again and said that they had also found the bones of my son, but I don't believe that is true. And If they had found a little finger of his, I would have accepted it," she says.

When asked if she thought anyone would ever be held accountable for these crimes, Dragica Bozanic doubts it.

"And that's not the only thing that hurts me. It hurt me when in our media, after my testimony, they put my picture next to Thaci's. Why his? Why they didn’t put my husband and younger son, I don't need Thaci's picture next to me."

Dragica quietly talks about life in the village of Opterusa and the fact that the Albanian neighbors did not want to warn them of what was coming.

"I have no desire to return. I also went there with EULEX, they took me in front of the gate of our house and told me that if I wanted, I could enter the yard. „Don't worry, we are here,“ they said. I couldn't get out of the car, as if the yard came into my lap and all those houses. I couldn't move from the car and I didn't want to get out. I said I could not, I didn't want to go and I hadn't. We lived together in Opterusa, the Albanians and the Serbs. My husband worked in education. He taught Serbian, he was also the Deputy Director, the Director. And this is how far it has come. He was good with everyone. He did not know how to say anything bad to anyone, to insult, shout, not even to his children, to anyone. That is why I asked, why no one of the neighbors had the courage to come and say to us to stay away. There weren't many of us, eight men and eight or nine women. The younger ones they were left a little earlier, a few months before. So we weren't aware what would happen to us," Dragica says.

She recalls the conversation with his son.

"And when I told my son to go, that he had an aunt in Prizren, in Mladenovac, grandma and grandpa, uncle, that he should go. He caressed my hair and said, Mom, you go," Dragica said, fingers white from squeezing, as she pulled out pictures from her memory.

Dragica Bozanic was not entitled to the pension of her husband Mladen, a teacher, who was kidnapped and killed by the KLA.

"I don't have the right to my husband's pension. I don't know how. I don't understand. They called me, I took all the paperwork. A few days later they told me that I don't have the right to my husband's pension in Serbia," Dragica says.

Even if the former leaders of the KLA are convicted in The Hague for the crimes committed, it will be little consolation for her.

"I said, everything can happen to me, but my son and my husband are gone. Those who are in prison, they are in prison, they will come out, but where are mine, who will tell me, are they there or this happened here or this one killed this one? Even today it is not known who killed them. God let me find out at least while I'm alive. As they say today you are here but tomorrow who knows, and I'm very sorry, it's hard to express. I said if only I found out while I was still alive. If only one of them had remained alive, regardless of whether it was my husband, son someone's son, or brother. If only one had remained alive to find out what happened. This way, I don't believe we will find out," Dragica ends her story.