Detektor Journalist Wins First Prize at ‘Remembering Through Art’ Exhibition

A testimony by Srebrenica mother Emina Hajdarevic about the son she lost in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, filmed by Detektor journalist Lamija Grebo, has won first prize at the Remembering through Art online exhibition.

The video testimony is part of “Lives Behind the Fields of Death”, a joint project of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, and the Srebrenica Memorial Centre.

It was among 25 other works of art that were selected as the best within the NO-OBLIVION project this year.

The story told by Emina Hajdarevic was the only video selected, and it impressed the jury the most, so they decided to award it the first prize.

Presenting the video in front of nearly a hundred participants, Lamija Grebo said that “Lives Behind the Fields of Death” was one of the most special projects she ever worked on during a ten-year career filled with survivors’ stories.

“I am particularly proud of this award as a regional recognition, because a lot of effort has been invested in this project, and the survivors have placed confidence in us, for which I will always be grateful,” Grebo said.

According to her, personal stories are the point at which people can connect through the personal tragedy and pain inflicted by war, so it is important that projects such as “Lives Behind the Fields of Death” have a lasting life as testimonies to grave crimes.

“This award is also important because we witness the denial of genocide and other crimes as well as the glorification of war criminals on a daily basis, and art is one of the ways to fight against that,” Grebo said.

Her work will also be presented at the Reviving Balkan Arts Festival to be held in Croatia in early April.

In addition to the video, which is now part of the permanent exhibition of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, this year’s online exhibition Remembering through Art also features posters, photographs and paintings by 24 authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Portugal and Poland.

All the works are dedicated to preserving the lessons of history and promoting justice and reconciliation.

Second prize went to Vasilika Siatara from Greece for a painting called “Signs and Memories”, which got the same number of points as the award-winning artwork – but her prize will be of monetary nature.

Third prize went to Bosnian photographer Dzenat Drekovic for a photo essay “The Noise of Silence”, which tells the story of the notorious Omarska detention camp.

Fourth prize was awarded to Ioana-Cristina Bobe for “Trampled Pride”, inspired by the testimonial of Grozdana Cecez, a victim of wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The exhibition and prize competition are part of the NO-OBLIVION project, funded by the European Union, which focuses on remembering the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and ensuring that the voices of victims and witnesses are not forgotten.

The initiative is supported by eight European organisations that are fostering additional connections between those whose goal is to turn art into a special tool for dealing with the past.

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Dzana Brkanic

Dzana Brkanic is a Detektor.ba (BIRN BiH) Deputy Editor. She joined BIRN in 2013 but chose journalism as her career long before that.

Journalism has attracted her since high school, as has literature. “At that time, I did not think that I would work in an organisation like BIRN. However, I thought about journalism as an important profession, which I still think today – about journalists as heroes and as people who help others,” she says.

“I started working at university as a student on the radio and 20 years flew by like that. I also worked in many media where I learned about different types of journalism from very good journalists – but I have gained a unique dimension of work and skills through the years at BIRN,” Dzana adds.

Over the past 12 years, BIRN has evolved and grown, she says.

“The organisation grew in every sense, as did I, along with it. For example, BIRN BiH dealt with war crimes that year and slowly started to monitor corruption. Today, there is almost no segment we don’t report on besides this, from terrorism and human rights to discrimination, foreign influences and people on the move. Investigative stories now are at an enviable level and BIRN as an organisation is recognisable not only in the region but also beyond,” she explains.

Before joining BIRN, her great love was video journalism, and she worked on TV because it was a challenge and an opportunity to express creativity. She is especially proud of two of her documentaries, Pod zemljom (Underground) and Četiri zida (Four Walls), which she authored.

“Underground is a story about children who were born literally four meters underground, where a hospital was built during the [Bosnian] war. Around 500 babies were born and hundreds of lives were saved there. I was fascinated by the story, the heroism, and the strength of my interlocutors,” she says.

“The second film is about the relationship between our society and politicians in the region towards the LGBT community in which I made an effort to make viewers aware of the discrimination and violence that this community unfortunately lives with.

“I like to think about how to tell a story, show emotion and convey the actual situation to the viewer. Most of all, I like teamwork on documentary films with fellow editors, cameramen and others from whom I have learned much. I’m always grateful to people who share their life stories with us, and, as in other formats, when we work, I try to do it in the best and most professional way,” Dzana says.

Dzana has won several awards. The European Union Investigative Journalism Awards and the Special Award of the European Press Prize have special meaning for her. They are also important at a time of attacks on independent media and denials of freedoms.

“For years, I was a journalist reporting from war crimes trials, interviewing victims from the past war, recording their fates and the searches for family members of the missing,” she says.

“I knew that these topics were not among the most read and that many people on social networks hid me because they said I always write difficult and sad things, but we worked on them for the sake of all those waiting for justice. So, when our newsroom received the European Press Prize for reporting on war crimes, it was an important recognition for me and all BIRN journalists,” she recalls.

“Awards for investigative journalism are really like wind at the back and a big plus. At a time of attacks on independent media and denials of freedoms, they are extremely important. And, let’s be realistic, such stories are often the ones that reveal things that are the work of the police or prosecutors,” she says.

Besides all of this, she trains young journalists and students at workshops on reporting on victims, missing persons, court reporting and investigative journalism.

“I do my best to pass on my knowledge to younger colleagues. Apart from the truth about our work, I try to show them that there is no better profession and greater satisfaction than when we help someone with our stories, discover something, or help them understand.

“I also try to present research as interesting and the work as fun because sometimes it is like that. It’s hard but it’s worth it, and I want to convey that feeling to them.

“I always leave the young with a new perspective on the topic we discussed because then they see things differently. They often remind me that we were all once young and inexperienced, and this is what I tell them – whoever works makes mistakes, and you won’t learn if you don’t try. But with reading, work, and education, progress will come.

“I am happy when I get a message from one of them whom I have motivated to do a story, when they get a job, or when they tell me that my mentoring meant something to them,” Dzana says.

She enjoys working on video and documentary stories the most. But it’s also the most difficult part of her work:

“As an editor, I generally miss the field, being more on set and talking to people. That’s what I love the most, though it’s also the most difficult thing for me because the stories about war crimes that we recorded are simply painful, human…

“Working with parents who have lost their children, with those who are still searching, and with victims of sexual violence is the most difficult, in that these stories follow you; you carry them home, you do not forget those fates, their words. But at the same time they motivate you to help them in the way that we journalists can, in the fight for truth and justice.

“When I’m driving around Bosnia and Herzegovina and I see signs with the names of settlements and villages, I start telling my passengers what happened there. Whether we like it or not, those stories have become a part of us,” she says.

The one thing she lacks is more spare time and time to do everything she wants to do – but journalism helps her with that, as well.

“Sometimes, we work at night and from home because that’s the nature of our work. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a granddaughter… While I visit everyone, a little time is left for friends, the occasional movie, and a book.

“I like to travel; if I could, I would visit new places all the time. Luckily, journalism made it possible for me as well,” she concludes.

Selma Melez

Selma joined Detektor (BIRN BiH) team in November 2024 as a journalist and court monitor.

She has a Master’s degree in Communication Studies from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo, during which she also spent some time on a student exchange program in Germany.

Selma began her journalism career in 2020 on Hayat TV as a journalist and reporter. She is one of the authors of the documentary film Golden Lilies.

During her studies, she worked on various projects and campaigns advocating for people with disabilities at the humanitarian and development NGO “People In Need” in the Czech Republic.

She has won journalism awards for topics such as “The Role of Media and Media Reporting in Peacebuilding” and for the best socially responsible story in the “Media Incubator” project in collaboration with the Goethe Institute, focusing on the economic empowerment of people with disabilities, caled “I can’t try if you don’t give me a chance”.

She is one of the authors of the story “Hands That Read”. In 2023, she won an award for the best journalistic story on Bosnia’s EU accession process, awarded by the Directorate for European Integration.

Her journalistic work is dedicated to reporting on human rights, especially people with disabilities and children, as well as war crimes in Bosnia and cybersecurity-related topics.

Hana Vranac

Hana joined Detektor (BIRN BiH) in November 2024 as a journalist.

Having just joined the Detektor newsroom Hana is still exploring her areas of interest, but she came to BIRN BiH with the belief that it is crucial to tell human stories and highlight such critical issues in society as corruption, crimes, human rights violations and more.

Previously, she worked as a journalist for the public broadcaster, Federation Television (FTV). She also collaborated with other media outlets on issues concerning culture, education and the social sector.

She has participated in various journalism schools, including the Deutsche Welle Academy and the BIRN Regional Exchange Program, through which she spent a month in Tirana, Albania working for the media outlet Citizens’ Channel.

She graduated with a degree in Comparative Literature as best student from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo.

Lejla Memcic

Lejla joined Detektor (BIRN BiH) in May 2024, as journalist.

Before joining the Detektor newsroom, she worked as a journalist at Radio Sarajevo for three years. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo in 2017.

She is engaged on trial reporting, as well as on topics related to corruption and the judiciary.

Lejla is the author of the weekly Detektor newsletter. She authored Detektor’s campaign, “16 days of activism against gender-based violence”, for 2024, and is currently working on the Judicial Transparency Index report.

Mirza Halilcevic

Mirza Halilcevic joined the BIRN BiH team in June 2024 as Project Manager.

In the last 10 years, he has worked in the field of human rights, writing and coordinating projects and reporting for several media outlets on the position of minorities in Bosnia, with a focus on LGBTIQA rights.

He has also gained experience in advocacy, fundraising, coordinating PR campaigns and event production.

He is a collaborator with several local and international organisations in Bosnia.

He completed his Bachelor and Master’s studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo at the Department of Sociology.

At BIRN BiH, he manages projects in the field of rule of law, digital rights and transitional justice, as well as projects related to the strategic development of the BIRN BiH office.

Jasmin Begic

Jasmin Begic joined Detektor (BIRN BiH) in July 2021 as a journalist.
As a court monitor, he reports on war crimes and police matters, often focusing on court practices and unprocessed war-crimes cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2022, Jasmin filmed the project Months of the Siege, which included stories from Sarajevo citizens who had survived the longest siege in modern history, trying to survive on humanitarian aid and even collecting rainwater for drinking. Many lost close family members who were killed by shelling or sniper attacks on Sarajevo.

Their testimonies were put on the special website of BIRN BiH published on the 30th anniversary of the start of the siege.

In the same year, Jasmin received a UNICEF award for his contribution to children’s rights, for writing about the country’s non-compliance with judgments of the Constitutional Court, due to which many pupils in Bosnia spent another school year in a segregated educational system.

In 2023, together with his colleague, Nermina Kuloglija-Zolj, Jasmin researched disciplinary proceedings conducted against police officers in Bosnia. This revealed that a large number of these cases have lapsed under the statute of limitations, as well as light punishments imposed on police who violate the law.

He is currently engaged in the “Missing Children” project, which will include a video base with stories about 50 children who went missing during Bosnia’s war – a topic about which he has already published several reports.

Jasmin graduated in Journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo.

Since 2009, he worked at the media outlets Source.ba and Television of Canton Sarajevo, where he spent 10 years working as a reporter before joining the BIRN BiH team.

Apart from journalism, he is interested in documentaries, cycling, reading, playing football and climbing mountains.

BIRN BiH Celebrates 20th Birthday by Unveiling New Look

Friends, donors and partners of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina attended its 20th birthday party on December 13 – and were shown the new look of the Detektor portal and other new multimedia content that will be available in 2025.

More than 300 guests from all over the region joined BIRN in Bosnia and Herzegovina as it celebrated the first 20 years of its existence.

Friends and partners but also others who have in some way shaped the work of the Detektor team over the past two decades enjoyed remembering key moments in the development of the organisation.

BIRN BiH Executive Director Denis Dzidic expressed pride in the work of the entire organisation and his own satisfaction over having worked for Detektor in various roles over the past 17 years.

“We are ready to welcome the third decade of Detektor’s existence with a new appearance of all our content. I remember the beginnings, when this was a small team, and today I can proudly say that we are a large organisation with an important mission, whose existence, idea and essence are my motive for its even greater growth,” Dzidic said.

Guests were presented with the new look of the Detektor.ba website, as well as the new logo that the organisation will present to the public from the beginning of 2025.

New trailers and jingles for the monthly episodes of Detektor TV and Detektor Magazine were presented, which will be part of the new appearance of the entire organisation.

In addition, a newsletter was presented as a new communication channel through which all Detektor followers will receive a weekly overview of the most important happenings in Bosnia, the region and the world, concerning all investigative pieces, analyses, multimedia, and other content produced by the outlet as well as a publication on journalists’ work so far.

“This year, we presented two documentaries, Samir Mehic Bowie – Letters from Srebrenica and Justice and Truth. Both deal with the topics of memorialization, transitional justice and remembrance, and this is only the beginning because in the near future we will have premieres of many other films with different themes, which we have been preparing for years,” Dzidic announced.

The celebration was an opportunity for newer members of the team to meet those who have made a huge contribution to the existence of BIRN BiH over previous decades.

Nerma Jelacic, one of the founders of the organisation and president of the BIRN BiH Assembly, addressed the audience, expressing her joy about the growth of the organisation over two decades.

“I am glad to see all these people and how much the organisation has grown. I am happy with all the positive steps forward and I am especially grateful to all those who support BIRN’s work, and I hope they will continue to do so in future,” Jelacic said.

BIRN BiH is a non-governmental media organisation based in Sarajevo, specializing in monitoring and reporting on war crimes, corruption and terrorism trials.

BIRN BiH journalists have become a leading source for the public on transitional justice, the rule of law and extremism, as well as on malign foreign influences, cybersecurity, human and digital rights.

Over 20 years, almost 40,000 articles have been published on the Detektor.ba portal. They include numerous investigative pieces and analyses, documentaries, nearly 190 episodes of monthly TV Justice and Detektor Magazine, and more than ten publications and reports.

All content on the Detektor portal, as well as on its social media channels on YouTube, X (Twitter), Facebook and Instagram, is free of charge.

Detektor Doc About Justice in Ukraine and Bosnia Premieres on BIRN Anniversary

Pravda&Pravda explores the pursuit of justice through the eyes of three Ukrainians who served as peacekeepers in Bosnia’s war – before fighting in their own.

On the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, a new documentary explores the pursuit of justice in Ukraine, where war is still ongoing, and in Bosnia, three decades since war ended there.

Pravda&Pravda, whose title combines the word justice in Bosnian and truth in Ukrainian, follows the experiences of three Ukrainian peacekeepers who were in Bosnia during the wear there in the 1990s – and are now back in Ukraine, in uniform.

The film can be seen on BIRN BiH YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbRuqYneEZo.

Thirty years ago, the three Ukrainians were part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Bosnia; they did not expect they would have to don uniforms again in their own country.

After the 1992-5 war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they testified before the Hague war crimes tribunal about their experiences in securing President Alija Izetbegovic’s convoy in Sarajevo and about coming face-to-face with Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic in Zepa later on.

When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, they had to go to the front line once again.

In the documentary, authored by Denis Dzidic, they talk about how they perceive justice. The film features a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Chief State Prosecutor for War Crimes in Ukraine, employees of the War Childhood Museums in Sarajevo and Kyiv, as well as other lawyers with experience of transitional justice processes in Bosnia and now Ukraine.

Detektor will release the film on BIRN BiH’s 20th anniversary.

Detektor journalists Nino Bilajac and Enes Hodzic shot the film with Dzidic during their stay in Ukraine in the summer of 2024.

The film editor is Mirza Mokrovic, the music was done by Adnan Musanovic, the cameramen were Serhii Klymenko and Sergii Rozov in Ukraine, and Mirza Mrso and Anes Asotic in Bosnia.

The making of the film was supported by the Belgian foreign ministry.

As part of this project, BIRN BiH has also published a subpage https://tranzicijskapravda.detektor.ba/en/ containing an overview of the most significant successes and failures in transitional justice processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with lessons that Ukraine can draw from them.

Broad Community Engagement is Key to Internet Governance in BiH

Engaging all stakeholders—including governmental and non-governmental organizations, academia, and the media—in the internet governance process is essential for Bosnia and Herzegovina to align its digital regulations with global standards, according to the first panel of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

In her introductory remarks at the IGF, Ingrid MacDonald, United Nations Resident Coordinator in BiH, stressed the importance of the country joining the global discussion on internet governance as soon as possible, especially given that these efforts have been initiated by civil society in BiH.

MacDonald warned of the daily risks associated with the digital space, emphasizing the need to recognize these dangers and respond to them adequately. She pointed to disinformation as a serious concern that is threatening human rights and undermining democratic processes worldwide. As examples, she highlighted the targeting of medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented levels of misinformation observed during the war in Gaza.

She especially emphasized the need to protect human rights and bolster general security in the digital space, with particular attention to children and other vulnerable groups.

“The protection of children is something that is crucial for BiH as well, to ensure there is safety in the online space and that sexual predators, as well as all others who exploit children and their video content, are stopped,” MacDonald said.

She also referenced the Global Digital Compact, an international framework for the governance of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, which offers unprecedented solutions for safeguarding human rights worldwide.

Dunja Mijatovic, a human rights and new technologies expert, said that the internet is now connecting people like never before, necessitating new approaches to managing this tool effectively.

She emphasized that communities around the world are facing unique challenges in the digital world today, and that only a joint effort from citizens, institutions, and the private sector can contribute to regulating this area.

This is  especially crucial, she added, in BiH, where regulation is lacking and the authorities are not moving towards addressing this important issue. For her, the media thus has a critical role in connecting all societal groups in this process.

“In the context of internet governance, the media has three key roles: to promote responsibility, media literacy, and to clarify local and global perspectives. Although they are often not included in the discussion on governance, it is important for this to change in BiH, but also globally,” Mijatovic added.

Denis Dzidic, Executive Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in BiH, and Darko Brkan, Executive Director of the organization ‘Why Not’, also stressed the growing importance of internet governance issues.  Yet, in BiH, these discussions do not include the whole community, which must change in order for the country to align with global trends and regulate its information space and digital services.

At the first IGF panel, Edin Forto, State Minister of Transport and Communications, said that there was no consensus in BiH on how to govern the internet in any sector, and that building this consensus is the first step that must be taken.

In terms of security, he recalled a cyberattack on the BiH Parliament, when the data was preserved purely by chance, emphasizing that the absence of cybersecurity protocols leaves the entire society vulnerable to threats.

“We could have one serious cyberattack that freezes all processes in our society, and we wouldn’t know how to respond to it,” Forto warned.While acknowledging the revival of efforts to establish a Computer Incident Response Team (CERT) in Bosnian institutions, he also noted that this process had stalled—an apt illustration of the country’s vulnerability to risk.

To resolve these issues, he advocates adopting a new law on electronic communications in accordance with European Union legislation, as well as implementing measures to ensure transparency in media ownership, as the media must be a key partner in designing legal and strategic frameworks for internet governance.

Anja Gengo,  Program Expert at the UN IGF Secretariat, discussed the ongoing process of digital transformation, highlighting the need to effectively manage digital technologies. For her, capacity development is one means of addressing the challenges of the technological revolution, and artificial intelligence is one of the most pressing topics in this conversation.

In the context of BiH, Gengo highlighted both the opportunities presented by technological development and the challenges facing countries in transition, like BiH, in the digitization of private and public services.

“The administration is at the greatest risk. In that sense, this is a call to learn from countries already dealing with these issues,” Gengo said, citing Estonia as a leader in this field.

From a judicial perspective, Arben Murtezic from the Center for Education of Judges and Prosecutors in the Federation of BiH identified many factors beyond regulations and the judiciary that affect internet governance, all of which require sufficient attention.

“This is an area where processes depend very little on the judiciary or even on the legal framework, but instead rely mostly on the general culture in society,” Murtezic added.

He believes that in establishing a framework for internet governance, there must be a focus on combating crime, particularly pertaining to the collection and use of digital evidence. While this evidence can provide a multitude of opportunities, it may also be of questionable credibility.

Fedja Kulenovic, information expert and assistant at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Philosophy,  concluded the panel by  advocating for dialogue between various stakeholders in the internet governance process and the implementation of different regulations across sectors.

According to Kulenovic, information ethics and information literacy are critical in the conversation about regulating the digital space, and it is important to consider all sectors where capacities need to be strengthened. He argued that the academic community can contribute to this process by bridging the gap between the governmental and non-governmental sectors to ensure the standardization of certain practices as well as assist in infrastructure development and facilitate a better understanding of all concepts crucial for effective internet governance in BiH.