KOVILJKA ZELENOVIĆ: I CALL ON MY DEAD SON NEBOJŠA EVERY DAY

BANJA LUKA, SEPTEMBER 1 /SRNA/ - Koviljka Zelenović, in her testimony of the Memorial Center of Republika Srpska, speaks about the killing of her only son Nebojša, who was killed in August 1992 in front of his family house in Nedžarići in Sarajevo, and about the mother's pain after the loss of her son, which she has been carrying for decades.

Zelenović said that her son Nebojša was killed in August 6, 1992, while he was in a trench at Stupinsko Brdo /Stupinsko Hill/, close to their family house in Nedžarići. "His father Milorad applied to go to the position to protect his son. He was wounded three times, but he did not manage to save his son. A sniper's bullet ended Nebojša's youth not far from his birthplace," Zelenović testifies. Zelenović, who currently lives in Retirement Home in Trebinje, keeps the photograph of her son in her room, along with the icon where she lights a candle. Her window and balcony face the part of Trebinje in which her son Nebojša, whom she gently called Neno, was buried. Koviljka says that while she was in better health condition, she used to go to the balcony every morning, where she used to drink coffee and to call out her son - not because she expected him to answer, but because he had to know that she was close, that his mother had not forgotten him. "Come, Neno, my dear son, to see how your mother is doing," Koviljka calls out her only son. Koviljka says that she often dreams about her son. "It's been a week since I dreamed about him. I'm dreaming about him, I was very sick and I hoped that when I dreamed about him, I would die too. But death won't come, it just won't," says Zelenović. Born in Zenica, Koviljka had a tough life, considering that she had lost her father when she was 4. She grew up in Bratač, near Nevesinje, with the Gušić family, who had suffered hard in World War II, when 7 Gašićs were killed. After he came back from the Goli Otok, her ankle took Koviljka to Sarajevo, where he helped her to continue her education, the Memorial Centre of Republika Srpska said.