Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 16/7/2024; Author: Nerma Šehović
The Alternative Television published an article in which it claims, without any evidence, that the gravestone of Jusuf Smajlovic, a man killed in the genocide in Srebrenica, was removed from Potocari, and that RS officials have been claiming for weeks that he is actually alive.
On June 28, 2024, an article with the following title was published on the web portal of Alternative television:
ATV reveals: Removed gravestone with the name and surname of the former driver of the head of Srebrenica
The article claims that Alternative television has revealed that the gravestone, with the name of the former driver of the head of Srebrenica, has been removed from the Memorial Center in Potočari. As “evidence”, photos were published that look like they were taken from a computer or some other electronic device, and which show gravestones in Potocari and a surface that looks like disturbed land.
The claims from the Alternative Television article were published by 15 other web portals from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region.
What are the facts?
The article refers to Jusuf Smajlovic, the former driver of the head of the Municipality of Srebrenica. Officials from Republika Srpska, including RS President Milorad Dodik and Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, claimed that Smajlovic was a “false victim” of genocide, that is, that the man who was buried in Potocari was actually alive and that he worked as a driver for the former mayor of Srebrenica.
On May 25, 2024, a month before the publication of the analyzed article, Alternative television also published an interview with Smajlovic, who said that his namesake was buried in Potocari and that it was a coincidence.
Our partner web portal Istinomjer also dealt with the claims about the removal of the gravestone that were made public by Alternativna televizija and Radovan Viskovic in an analysis published on July 12, 2024.
Istinomjer contacted the director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic, with a request to comment on the accuracy of these allegations. Suljagic said that not a single gravestone has ever been removed from Potocari, stressing that such a procedure would be a criminal offence.
On the list of victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, there are 111 people with the surname Smajlovic, two of whom are named Jusuf. The name of the father of one of them, by chance, is Osman, as is the name of the father of Jusuf Smajlovic, who is alive and who worked as a driver for the mayor of Srebrenica.
According to data from the website of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Jusuf (Osman) Smajlovic from Soce in Srebrenica was born in 1954. He was buried in plot M01, row 82, and grave site 35. A photo of his gravestone is also available on this website.
He was buried in Potocari in 2003 together with his brother Omer Smajlovic. In the following years, his sons Fahrudin and Samedin, as well as his father Osman, were buried in Potocari.
Omer Smajlovic’s daughter, therefore Jusuf Smajlovic’s niece, Esnefa Smajlovic-Muhic, author of the books “Life before and after Srebrenica” and “Mother Hatidža”, in 2022 spoke about the murders of her family members for the Anadolu news agency.
“My grandfather Osman, his sons Omer and Jusuf, grandsons Samedin and Fahrudin, grandfather’s brothers Atif and Abid, grandfather’s cousins Mesan, Smajo, Halid, Mustafa, Senahid, grandfather’s cousins, my uncles, aunts, were killed in the genocide. … My grandmother Omer was found in the area of Jelah, municipality of Bratunac. He was buried in September 2003. I am the oldest child in my family of Omer and mother Saha. I am the eldest grandson of Osman and Djula Unfortunately, none of them are alive, but they left an indelible mark and wonderful memories that connect me to my childhood”, said Smajlovic-Muhic.
On July 10, 2024, BHRT broadcast a report about the murdered Jusuf Smajlovic and his family. In the report, which is also available online, one can see photos of Jusuf and his sons, who were 15 and 18 years old when they were killed.
So, contrary to the claims of RS officials and the media close to them, Jusuf Smajlovic, whose tombstone (contrary to the claims of Alternative television) stands in Potocari, was killed in 1995 and was not the mayor’s driver.
In addition to promoting a negative narrative about the genocide in Srebrenica, this kind of disinformation targets the surviving members of the Smajlovic family, as well as other survivors, accusing them of “making up” the deaths of their loved ones.
“There are no words. All this is hard to come by, but that seems to be the policy in Bosnia as a whole”, commented Esad Smajlovic, cousin of Jusuf Smajlovic, for BHRT, on the claims that Jusuf is alive.
Therefore, we rate the claim that a gravestone “with the name and surname of the former driver of the head of Srebrenica” was removed from Potocari, published on the web portal of Alternative television, as fake news. We rate other sharing of these claims as the distribution of fake news.
