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News / Serbia 2003
Daily Jurnal VECERNJE NOVOSTI, August 4, 2003. / source Fight for the truth of family Jovic from Krusevac about allegedly deceased child reveals scandalous information DNA at correction According to the DNA test, tissue samples enclosed from the pathology ward in Krusevac do not belong to the child of Milanka and Miloje Jovic, and to make the whole situation more complicated the Institute for forensic medicine in Belgrade found that the tissue parts belong to several different people TRANSLATED
KRUSEVAC - Doubts that their child died after birth at the Health center brought the Jovic to scandalous information. In their fight to find out what had happened to their child after "sudden" death Milanka (46) and Milivoje (53), both economists, became one of the rare parents who agreed to do DNA analysis of their blood with "model" of their "deceased" baby.
According to the DNA test, tissue samples enclosed from the pathology ward in Krusevac do not belong to the child of Milanka and Miloje Jovic, and to make the whole situation more complicated the Institute for forensic medicine in Belgrade found that the tissue parts belong to several different people! How and why?
The beginning of this story dates from 1981. In the night between Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27 that year, on the eve of Easter, Milanka Jovic gave birth at the maternity hospital in Krusevac. As she was told, she delivered a healthy girl, with mark 9, who even cried. They immediately named her Marija.
As they explain, in those hard moments, medical papers made real confusion. The hospital protocol and, later, the books of birth and death say that Milanka gave birth to a girl. However, the postmortem result, done at the pathology ward in Krusevac, signed by Dr Tomislav Pavicevic, say it was done for - a boy.
- Now, black on white, we received the proof that the pathology ward in Krusevac doesn't have the main evidence that our child is dead, they demanded new DNA analysis - says Miloje. - First results supposedly weren't complete so they did the analysis based on the remained tissue samples. They said there were over twenty of them so we got suspicious.
Milanka says that if they receive new DNA results that don't match with the first results, they will do the same test abroad on their cost. - I hope they won't, now when they saw the first results, infinitely do DNA tests in order to prove my child is dead - says Milanka. - No body wonders how we felt when they confirmed that on the model tissue of our baby there were samples of who knows what babies and people. If they don't have the proof child is dead, it is then alive. But, where are proofs now? The mere thought that my child, a daughter or son, is alive and that it maybe needs our help now drives me crazy as a mother. Milanka points out that during all those years of uncertainty and doubt she still lit a candle for her officially deceased child. However, since last year when the "baby affair" started in Serbia she no longer does it. She is certain her child is alive. M. Ristovic
A genuine fight took place on Wednesday morning at maternity ward of the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth "Narodni Front" in front of numerous patients, doctors, and nurses. Branko Aleksendric, an unhappy father whose wife gave birth to a lifeless baby the day before, slapped Dr Nedeljko Cutura, chief of the maternity hospital.
The police department of the Town hall Savski venac got involved in this case, or better call it scandal. As we have found out Branko Aleksendric was allowed to see medical documentation at the Clinic while the baby's body was given to postmortem, which would be done by the experts of the Institute for forensic medicine. The people authorized for giving information and answering questions regarding the scandal at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth "Narodni Front", among whom there is a director and professor Dr Slobodan Runic, were yesterday busy with important matters and meetings (the meeting of the Administrative committee was held); which means that they didn't have time (or wish) to state anything for the public. Also, we didn't manage to get any statements from Dr Nedeljko Cutura who was absent from the Clinic yesterday because, as we were told, he had been on a night shift at the maternity ward the night before. - It's a fact that the fight happened. But, in this moment I can't comment on the whole event. We are waiting for the postmortem results and the report from our supervisory committee. We are expecting all those information as well as the general explanation of the whole case by the next week, it was said for "Ekspres" yesterday by Darinka Mitrovic, director of the legal service at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth "Narodni Front". Jagoda Plavsic
- After six months we come to the Government again to see if anyone could help us find the real documentation regarding the disappearance of our children, said one of the parents, Goran Radenovic to the Beta agency. He noticed that parents whose children were pronounced dead didn't receive authentic death certificates. Yesterday the parents pointed out that the prosecution departments demanded they appeared with a child they suspect to be theirs and to do DNA test that would establish the eventual relationship. Parents emphasized that they required seeing the Minister of the police, Dusan Mihajlovic but they didn't get any answer. O.D. Daily Jurnal EKSPRES, June 17, 2003. / 1 partDramatic confession of Slavica Roganovic, accused of stealing her children: "I begged my husband to do DNA test, those people have simply confused our child…" Mother, father, forgive me TRANSLATED Those days Serbia was humming about the so-called baby affair. Dozens of families accused doctors and medical staff from many maternity hospitals of selling the newborn babies. They pointed out that the babies were sold for large amounts of money to rich families who couldn't have children. Those people who justly, or not, suspected doctors, courts and the police were led by Radojka and Milutin Manojlovic from Sokobanja along with certain Vera Dobrosavljevic. They presented to the public 117 registered taken babies pointing out, by names, the families that allegedly took them. Slavica Roganovic and her husband Simo didn't have any peace those days. The phone in their apartment didn't stop ringing. It was the Mnojlovic family that called, always suggesting some kind of an agreement with the Roganovic.
We accepted the call for DNA analysis at the Institute for forensics in Belgrade with relief.
We went to the Institute on November 29, last year, at 10 am. First they took Violeta's blood from her finger. They could hardly squeeze a few drops out. They also had a hard time taking Simo's blood. In my case the blood started pouring abundantly. "Do you suffer from blood pressure?" - doctor asked me. - I probably do. It's nothing strange, I'm accused of stealing my child. Ten days later I was called to take the results. I shivered thinking what if those horrible people bribed the Institute committee. I didn't know either who they were or who stood behind them. Luckily, my doubts were unjustified. Our lawyer entered the laboratory to take the results; he even made a joke by saying: "Slavica, you now have the written proof that you and Simo are Violeta's parents". - We went home. Violeta was watching us from the terrace, Simo was inside, frowned and my mother held to a wardrobe as though she was going to fall. Violeta was still on the terrace even though she heard we came in. As I was completely speechless our lawyer said: "Simo, you are the father. The result is 99,999". Then he ran to the terrace and showed the result to Violeta.
We thought everything was over. Unfortunately, our happiness didn't last long. Local TV station and some newspapers from Krusevac talked to a certain family Mandzukic from that town. The Mandzukic claim that our second daughter Sandra is their child and that we stole her. All this gives wings to the Manojlovic who continue to phone us now with accusations that we bought DNA results and claiming they had their own results allegedly done somewhere abroad. Violeta keeps receiving letters beginning with: Our dear daughter…" And this haunting continues on without the end. The Mandzukic work together with Vera Dobrosavljevic who is alpha and omega in stirring up their emotions. The Mandzukic threat they would demand the court protection. I think they want us to take the DNA test again, to prove Sandra is ours. However, we have firmly decided not to respond even if the court asked us to. We have no more strength to confront these senseless things. It just goes forever. They have even tried to accuse my mother of stealing me. We have been trying to protect ourselves from those people; we are going to ask for the court protection and believe that somehow the justice will bring us our peaceful family life back. Sreto Dragas
Simo and Slavica Roganovic have received a court order, at their address in Arsenija Carnojevica Street in Novi Beograd, regarding the criminal accusation of Radojka and Milutin Manojlovic from Sokobanja, in which it was stated that their daughter Violeta is not their child but that they stole her at maternity hospital and that her biological parents are really the accusers. At the same time family Mandzukic from Krusevac claim that the other Roganovic's daughter Sandra was also stolen and that they are her real parents. Also, an anonymous letter arrives to the same address, addressed to Slavica's mother in which she is asked to "finally publicly speak" about her daughter's origin, as there is something suspicious in that, too. Slavica Roganovic, mother of Violeta and Sandra, speaks for Ekspres about family drama that followed.
Just to remind, several dozens of families from Serbia have recently protested in public with claims and accusations that their newly born children were mysteriously stated dead at maternity hospitals but were actually sold to other families that couldn't have children. Doctors and other medical staff in Belgrade, Krusevac and other towns around Serbia were accused in the famous baby affair. The whole thing even reached that day president of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, who received the delegacy and promised to do everything so the case could get a just court ending. And so it happened - just, to court! The Roganovic were as struck by lighting.
Slavica speaks about the beginning of the whole matter - the accusation of being only a "paper" parents:
After the graduation they sometimes telephoned each other and that was all. Only recently Ljubomir phoned Violeta and told her, in passing, that he had found his twin sister.
They agreed to meet in a café in Zemun. They sat at a table and it later turned out that his parents were sitting at the table near theirs.
I don't know how my child managed to survive this meeting. She came home petrified. In the beginning she didn't say anything. However, my mother drew my attention to Violeta's strange behavior - she didn't talk much, which I interpreted as having a secret love and didn't bother her much. It turned out, however, that she started to doubt. Unexpectedly she began asking questions like how I got through the delivery and was it really by Cesarean section. I answered without any suspicion that she was checking me. And then, one day, she seriously said - mother, I can't hold on any longer, I'm going crazy, I feel terrible. She cried so painfully that I got frightened like never before. She told me everything about the meeting in the café.
Slavica could hardly catch her breath while trying to explain her feelings at that moment.
In the mean time the Manojlovic were making phone calls and sending letters and greeting cards addressed to Violeta and texts starting with "Our dear daughter…"
They answered coldly and cynically: "She is not Violeta, she is Nikoleta, we want to bring her back her identity". Sreto Dragas - My story looks like all the others told by now but with a difference that I joined the group of parents who search for their, as they say, taken children only after I had gathered the documentation about my allegedly deceased son, born October 27, 1980 - Nada Otasevic begins her story for "Ekspres".
She says that everything started when she wanted to take birth certificates for her three children.
According to her words, at the Town hall she was told to come back in a month, which she did. She received a document that didn't show her son was dead. Then she told the Town hall officials that her son wasn't alive and they said they would investigate the whole thing again and told her to come back - in a month.
They informed me, by a letter, that they didn't find any information in their archive that my son was registered as deceased and referred me to the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth Narodni front. I suspected that something was wrong but I still went to the maternity hospital - Nada says. She says that her pregnancy went fine but the child was born in the seventh month.
- At the end of the seventh month I gave birth to a male child. The time was 11.15 am and, when I asked the present doctors and nurses if everything was all right with the baby they answered affirmatively and even congratulated me on becoming a mother. After the delivery I rested and gathered strength and in the evening hours I managed to get up and go to the box with babies to see my son. Nobody from the medical staff came to see me after the delivery - remembers this mother and adds that she experienced the first shock when she reached the baby ward. As she states, when she asked about her son the staff told her they didn't know anything about the baby!
- So my search started on relation maternity ward - baby boxes and back. Finally a midwife, who sat in front of the coffin freezer, told me that my baby was probably in there! At that moment I didn't faint, but, as hypnotized, I silently went back to my bed. Then I phoned home where they were celebrating birth of the male child and told them something was wrong. I don't remember how I spent that night - states Nada Otasevic.
The next morning was a little brighter for this mother because, during the morning rounds a head doctor congratulated her on giving birth to a boy, which immediately gave her hope that there had been some kind of terrible "confusion" and that her son was alive. But soon there came a turn over…
She says that, last year, she took the advice she got at the Town hall Savski venac and went to the maternity hospital to look for her son's documentation. They opened and showed her the books. She was surprised because, according to the information from the books something didn't match.
- Birth protocol says I gave birth October 28, 1980, which is not true. My baby's number was 124 but the woman two places in front of me also had baby's number 124. It said that the fetus was mature; later, when I searched for the doctor who signed that report it turned out that nobody knew him! The first time they showed me the protocol of the born babies they said that due to his small weight my baby immediately had to be transferred to the Institute for neonatology - she says and adds that she went to the Institute where they told her they had never admitted the baby she was looking for. She also received the answer from the Funeral communal service in which they say they didn't bury this child. Doubt started eating this mother.
- I joined the group of parents and filed a criminal complaint but I also started relating things on my own based on the documentation I possessed. So, about twenty days ago, looking at the protocol I saw that the woman who was above me on that list gave birth to the fourth illegitimate child and she was only 24 years old. It didn't have to mean anything but I found her address and went to find her. It happened that I ran into her neighbors who told me that she died ten years ago and she had no children! I was confused and claimed that she had four children but the neighbors convinced me that they had been living next to this woman's house forever, that they knew her well and they were certain she never gave birth - I went back home more certain that I would fight till the end to find the truth about my son.
R. Bajcic
NIS - It took 25 long and hard years of disbelief for Verica Pesic from Vranje to hear the voices of her twin daughters, Aleksandra and Danijela who allegedly died after birth.
Shocking news Verica Pesic claims that the information from the registration and those from the birth book don't match. One of the main reasons for her doubt was seeing the computer data at the birth service of the Town hall Savski venac where it was written that none of the babies born in 1978 was registered as dead! A few months ago the Pesic first tracked down Aleksandra. Verica telephoned her and told her the shocking news. Soon, the "paper" mother confessed. - That day her "mother" called and said that her daughter was in shock and that the whole family was upset - says Milivoje Pesic. - I calmly suggested meeting her and talking about everything but she said that our claims weren't true; "I took that child from Misa, police officer, whose wife is a trader". She obviously didn't know who she was talking to and she remained speechless when I told her that she was speaking with Milivoje - Misa, police officer, husband of Verica, trader. After a few days people from the Center for social work in Vranje called the Pesic and one of the psychologists told Verica that they had agreed with Aleksandra's "mother" to tell the girl she adopted her.
Misa Ristovic
I've been reading Ekspres for a long time and I have carefully followed "the affair of baby thefts". At first I was skeptical about everything that has been said in the media about the "case" in our society, but in the end I believed, because, as it is said, "where there is smoke there is fire". It was simply unbelievable that all those mothers were lying or devising their children had been taken after birth… However, when it seemed that the mystery about such unreasonable thefts of living children would finally be solved and when statesmen started talking to the parents everything stopped. My question is what is now happening with the case. The answer to our reader's question is - nothing. Because, as Rada Pantelic, a mother who is still searching for her child, said, everything somehow stopped. - I find it unbelievable that someone is interested in us. It's hard to live with suspicion or indication that my child is not dead but in another family. I delivered him and wanted to be his mother, but… There have been no changes in this year. The truth about our children is still lying somewhere well hidden - says the mother and adds that the authorized institutions for those parents are simply "unavailable". As she states, none of the various politicians' promises have been realized. Also, the expert team for solving the "mystery" hasn't been formed. - The only novelty is that the prosecution has decided to disregard obsoleteness as an obstacle in solving our problems due to their seriousness. I found that out two days ago in the telephone conversation with the prosecutor in charge of my case. All in all, our agony continues. The worse thing is that this problem doesn't reach the minds and hearts of the people. The immorality, which happened to us, could happen to anyone. As you have called me I want to use the opportunity to thank the small number of people who have, during the last months of silence, called and encouraged us to endure till the end - mother Rada Pantelic finishes.
KRUSEVAC - Parents, who suspect their children have been sold or kidnapped after birth, filed criminal complaints against Milan Sarajlic, dispositioned deputy of the public prosecutor, and nine more workers of the prosecution in Belgrade, Kragujevac, as well as the Institute for forensic medicine, finds Glas from Stojan Vaskovic, from Vitanovac near Krusevac, who gave the material in the name of the expert group representing the parents. The accusation was, as it is claimed, filed because of the "act of organized criminal and felony union", and for the ten accused it is said they have used their political power to cover the details in the affair of baby theft. They are also accused of arrangement of fake DNA analyses. Results of the analyses done in Switzerland are stated as a proof. It is also stated that this group "has deliberately misinformed the public, embarrassed the families and, threatening with arrests, conveyed them to hearings at the police station at 29th November Street in Belgrade". Criminal accusations were delivered to representative of the President of Serbia and the President of the Republic Hall, Natasa Micic, the President of the Government, Zoran Zivkovic, and the Republic Minister of Justice, Vladan Batic. N. E. S.
- There was a midwife, Vesna, beside me-she says-as she was when I gave birth to Vukasin. When the baby cried she said: "Mother, why are you so scared when there's nothing wrong with the baby. Look at him, he is the same as Vule!" The second Vuckovic's son was born on October 15, 1991 at 15.30; he weighed 2,050 g and was 47 cm long. - Right after the delivery a midwife Vesna told me: "We will put him into an incubator because he had a hard time during the delivery". The next morning a nurse, who came to take statistics, asked if the pediatrician came. I said no. A little while after that Jovica, Vukasin and me stood in the corridor and Dr Kostic approached us. He said that the baby died and tried to persuade us it was better we didn't see it because it would leave even greater trauma on us and said that the baby would be buried by the hospital, on their cost. I was discharged the next day - says Ljilja not even trying to hold her tears. - When I saw Jovica, I remember, I told him through tears: "I tried everything, but, you see, I couldn't endure". Officially, according to one of the documents, the nameless baby Vuckovic died on October 16, 1991 at 6 am. Jovica demanded a postmortem, so they could exactly know what their son died of, because he and Ljilja had an agreement, made even before their wedding, to have a house full of children. Dr Djerdj Kokai signed a postmortem result, all in Latin and without a hospital's seal. - Both Ljilja and I have never lit a candle for our nameless son. We don't know why. I guess that some inner feeling told us not to. We never said out loud that our son may be alive, neither when we were alone nor in front of our sons Vukasin and Nikola, and our daughter Jelena - says Jovan. Swift adoption Jelena was born on the same date as the "deceased" son-on October 15-only six years later, says Ljilja.
Jovica managed to gather a quite thick fascicle of documents. He read and compared them during the nights, and during the day, at work, reversed what he had read, trying to catch a lead. He talked to other parents who found themselves in the same situation. He met Vera Dobrosavljevic from the village Juzine, near Aleksinac. She helped him mostly. The lead to the deceased baby led to the Center for social work in Aleksinac. But before he went to that institution Jovica found out that their baby was adopted by Miroslav and Zorica Bozanic from the village Nozrina, near Aleksinac. Milos is an only child in the family Bozanic. He is 11 years old and goes to the fourth grade of an elementary school in Aleksinac. - For the first time I went to Nozrine in September last year, with my son Nikola. I went to a village store and started asking the villagers, who drank beer in front of it, where the house of the Bozanic was. They knew what I wanted right a way. They said: "You came here to look for your son". It turned out that the whole village knew that the Bozanic had adopted their son. Miroslav didn't have any children in the first marriage and, also, in the second one, with Zorica, he wasn't any luckier. He brought the baby home on his patron saint and made a big celebration-says Jovica Vuckovic. - The villagers showed me where the house was. It was big and beautiful, with cameras and a fenced yard. Milos was outside. He was playing basketball alone. I had this feeling for a moment: my son lives alone in a golden cage. From behind he looked just like me. I mean by figure. When he turned Nikola shouted: "Dad, he is the same as I am". I just said: "Son, this is your brother". We didn't want to call or address him. We felt that it would be too much both for us and for him. Father writes to "father' It has never crossed the Vuckovic's mind to take Milos or to go to the Bozanic's house. They turned to the Center for social work in Aleksinac and the police department and asked to meet Miroslav there and talk in the presence of an inspector. - According to the documentation from the Center for social work the Bozanic filed a claim for adoption on January 9, 1992 and it was approved on February 17 the same year. Very swift, there's no doubt about it. The parents who have been trying to adopt a child legally know how hard it is and how complicated the procedure is. It takes at least 6 months, in good conditions - Jovica continues. He received the following answer, to his written complaint, from director Ljiljana Markovic: "We are familiar with the fact that under aged Bozanic Milos was completely adopted by the family Bozanic from Nozrina, so, according to section 173 of the Law of marriage and family relations in Serbia the procedure of adoption is regarded as an official secret, and we are not in possibility to satisfy your demand and mediation about seeing the under aged Bozanic Milos from Nozrina". -Instead of meeting Miroslav a police inspector, who got an order from the Public prosecution to question me, met me at the Police station. The first thing he asked was why and how many times I visited Vera Dobrosavljevic. I was appalled. Is it the most important thing in the whole case?!-Jovica Vuckovic asks himself out loud. -I am desperate because none of the officials is helping me in finding out the real truth about how my son reached the Bozanic. I sat and wrote a letter to Miroslav. Among other things, Jovica wrote the following in the letter: "I know the problem is big and hard but, I am also sure that it is solvable. I know that you know that the child you have is ours, so I want to ask you, as a man and as a father, to, if you really love and respect him, and I believe you do, manage to realize a contact with us without the presence of the third person (the police and justice). We should try to find the best solution for him, you and us. However, the child is the most important in this situation… Maybe you have been misled and deceived so, once more and for the last time I implore you to think well about it. He has to know that he has brothers and a sister, which would happen sometimes, so we think it would be better if he found out with your and our help than from some third side. If he finds out from the third side, be sure you will lose him and we would like to prevent that on account of everything you have done for him. You have to understand that I am offering you co-operation, which hardly anyone would do in my place… Maybe you ask yourselves how we found out you had the child; it was through documentation and a person who was a mediator during giving the child, mine as well as the others…" "Encounter" in front of the house The next day, around 7 p.m., at the moment when the Hungarian TV crew was making a story about the Vuckovic, the phone rang in the home of Ljiljana and Jovica. It was Miroslav Bozanic. "Friend, brother, I don't know how to call you, let's make an agreement", started Miroslav. "Can you visit me as soon as possible?" Jovica answered that he couldn't go to Nozrine in the next two or three days due to some meetings of the group of parents, whose babies disappeared after birth, with officials. He asked Miroslav to come to Belgrade, but Miroslav insisted on meeting in his village. Hungarian TV camera recorded this conversation unintentionally so we had a chance to see and listen to it as well as our north neighbor viewers throughout the detailed story about the missing babies in Serbia. - When we talked to each other again Miroslav was more restrained, probably under the influence of the doctors who made the adoption of Milos possible. "If you have the evidence, take him", he says. His wife Zorica claimed, in the telephone conversation, that the child was adopted in Zvecanska and that a student girl who couldn't tell her parents about the pregnancy delivered him. Still, we agreed to meet in his electro material store in Nozrina-says Jovica. When I arrived there, there was a note on the door, which said "I'll be right back". I waited in vain. From some village people I heard that children started picking on Milos by saying that his mother and father were looking for him. He doesn't have any friends. Children don't come to his house and he never goes to village gatherings with his "parents". Although there is an elementary school in Nozrina, the Bozanic take Milos to a school in Aleksinac. The Vuckovic anticipate who, from their nearest surrounding, assisted in the theft of their baby. It was a family member, a medical worker from Belgrade. Jovica emphasizes that Zorica is that woman's maid of honor sister and that she and her husband, right after the "death" of the Vuckovic baby bought a new car-"Golf", started building a house… - For now this is still a family business, but we believe that, when the court and the police start acting according to our accusation, everybody, who took part in this dirty game with human lives, will take legal consequences-says Jovica Vuckovic. The Vuckovic celebrated the New Year in the home of Vera Dobrosavljevic in Luzani. They spent three days there. When they left for Belgrade, by their car, a chance or destiny wanted them to "encounter" the Bozanic in front of their house. While Jovica was trying to talk to Miroslav, Milos was pushed to the door of the car by his "mother and grandmother". Before he left their sight Milos turned and waved to the Vuckovic. Ljilja Vuckovic then saw her second son after 11 years. She is still in shock. She can't take her sight off the photo of Milos, which is enlarged from the group photo of his class. Even with her eyes wide open she dreams of the first time she held her son on her chest. DNA analyses When, last summer, Milutin Manojlovic, who was born in Belgrade but now lives in Soko Banja, revealed to the public that he had found his "deceased" daughter after 22 years, it couldn't be assumed that hundreds, now about 700, families would engage into the same "adventure". Almost every day prosecutions in Belgrade, Nis, Kragujevac, Krusevac, Prokuplje, Pancevo, etc. receive a new case with the same question: where is my child? Parents of the stolen children knocked on the doors, as they claim, of the President of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, the Prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, high functionaries of the Ministry of internal affairs, patriarch Pavle and the Karadjordjevic. They claimed in public, offering the collected evidence, that it had all been organized trading of babies. However, none of the authorized people either denied or confirmed this horrifying statement; until, at the end of the last year Snezana Bogdanovic, prosecutor of the Second public prosecution in Belgrade, stated that DNA analysis determined that Violeta Roganovic was not Nikoleta Manojlovic, that is, her biological parents are Simo and Slavica Roganovic whose official daughter she is. According to words of Snezana Bogdanovic, this case is concluded for the prosecution. But, Milutin Manojlovic reacted immediately asking for exclusion of Snezana Bogdanovic. He told us that he also had DNA analysis and that those results say that he and his wife Radojka are biological parents of Violeta Roganovic. To make things more complicated the Roganovic received a New Year's card for their younger daughter Sandra from the family Mandzukic, who claim, also based on DNA results, that Sandra is their daughter. - Out of 85 families, who know exactly where their children are, 77 have done analyses in foreign countries and all the results speak in the benefit of those who are looking for their "deceased" sons and daughters-says Jovica Vuckovic. Milica Stamatovic
Greek police has arrested seven people, four Greek and three Bulgarian citizens, for trading with newborn babies in the town Lamija. Among the arrested is Hristos Cagaris, a famous gynecologist and a joint owner of a private maternity hospital in Lamija, who was charged for the same act in 1995 but was released by court. Also, one the arrested is a lawyer and former functionary of local autonomy in Lamija, Evangelos Andrulas, together with one of his employees and a nurse, The arrested Bulgarian citizens are parents of the baby that was supposed to be given for adoption to a Greek couple for 10,500 EUR and a woman who was a mediator in this "job". The investigation shows that the same people were involved in other cases of illegal adoptions and trading with babies. The affair was discovered owing to an investigation of a private TV station "Alfa" and Makis Triandafilopulos, a famous reporter, regarding the phenomenon of illegal adoption of children and trading with newborn babies in Greece. Due to a problem and delay in the procedure of legal adoption of children state institutions in Greece suggested the change of legal regulations in order to stand in the way of illegal adoptions. Regarding this occasion a respectable Athens' magazine "To Vima" published a detailed analysis about this phenomenon in Greece. From 600 decisions about adoption, brought by courts in Greece, only 80 consider the adoption from three authorized institutions and in other 520 cases courts approve an adoption on account of an agreement between biological parents and a couple that wants to adopt a baby. It is in these cases that trading of babies happens. According to the research of the same magazine couples without children, who wait even up to five years for the approval of adoption from the three authorized institutions, refer to "mediators", usually lawyers or doctors, to find them a child and deal with judicial procedures. "A fee" for "a favor" goes from 10,000 EUR, for Romany children, to 30,000 EUR for babies from Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and other Eastern European countries. A problem in trading with newborn babies appears with so-called private adoptions made with an agreement of parents, which are permitted in Greece from 1996. However, Atanasios Papahristu, a law professor, explains for Athens' magazine "To Vima" that without the institution for private adoptions there would be many more cases of concealed adoptions and fake deliveries. Among other things, there are numerous private maternity hospitals in Greece. Besides, in the last 50 years this is the second time Greece has dealt with the phenomenon of illegal adoptions. However, during the fifties, the period of great political instability after the civil war, a large number of Greek children were given for adoption to couples in the USA illegally and with financial transactions. Due to this affair legal proceedings were conducted in the USA and in Solon, and there are a few American citizens who show up in Greece every year, and who look for, and usually find, their biological parents or brothers and sisters with the help of media and the Red Cross. Ivana Djordjevic
BELGRADE - Ethical committee of the Serbian doctors' society has found a series of administrative mistakes in the documents about the babies for whom the parents claim not to be dead, as they were initially told at hospitals. The president of this committee Prof. Dr. Dragoslav Ercegovac said to reporters on Thursday that these were the mistakes of hospitals' management. They didn't act according to the administrative procedure: deceased child had to be shown to a father or a mother, if they wanted to see it, the postmortem had to be done and the document had to be given to parents, which, in many cases hadn't been done. Hospitals' duty was to offer the baby's body to parents for burial or to sign if they didn't want to do that. In order to avoid repeating of these omissions, Ethical committee suggests regulating a responsibility of hospitals regarding these cases. The Serbian doctors' society also asks for legal prohibition of cloning for reproductive purposes in our country. -We are absolutely against the reproductive cloning because the experiments done on animals show that the method isn't completely determined in professional and scientific aspect and misuses are possible - says Prof. Viseslav Hadzitanovic, general secretary of the Serbian doctors' society. B. R.
LESKOVAC - On these winter days families Obradovic from Leskovac and Markovic from Bojnik are visiting various institutions in hope they will find more information about their newborn sons. The Obradovic got their son on March 14, 1997 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Belgrade and the Markovic on August 20, 2002 at the Health center in Leskovac. Judging by the omissions they noticed they claim they are sure their children are alive. Slobodan and Blaga Obradovic (36) from Leskovac got a report on January 21, 2002 from JKP "Pogrebne usluge" from Belgrade, after what they are sure their son, born on March 14, 1997 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Belgrade, is alive. Also, as they say, the inadequate and out of date documentation confirms this.
When I delivered the baby, Dr Jovic said, after the Cesarean section, that I gave birth to a son, who was alive and well, and that he resembled his father. And then, the next day, everything went wrong with the report that baby wasn't well. Some time later my husband, Slobodan, was told the baby died. Dr Kesic comforted my husband, with remark that he needn't see the dead baby. However, as Blaga says, the worm of doubt "started to work" after they came home. The bacterial reports showed there was something wrong with her baby. Two babies were written under her name, one under 69 (this one is hers - she says) and the other under 63. The postmortem report, which has no seal, also has no information about the baby. The discharge list doesn't have her signature, as she says, but somebody else's. Also, the documentation shows the dates from March 14 to March 17 that "don't fit".
Slavoljub, a worker at a bakery and Snezana Markovic (28), a housewife, from Bojnik had no peace since August 20, 2002 when she gave birth to a healthy male baby, 52 cm long, at the Health center in Leskovac. Mother Snezana says the baby cried twice. And then, later, she was told the baby had respiratory problems and a midwife told Slavoljub that the baby died. - I asked to see the baby right away but I wasn't allowed to. They said the diaphragm was in question and that I would get the postmortem results in three days. I didn't get the results, although I went there several times; I got them after 40 days - says Slavoljub. His wife Snezana says that Dr Todorovic, who was beside her, said that everything was all right. However, how and where things got complicated, he didn't know. Slavoljub tried to get death certificate, but the child wasn't written in the book of the dead. He doesn't understand why he wasn't allowed to bury the baby or, at least, to attend its burial, but they told him they would do it by duty. He got the birth certificate from the birth service where only name wasn't written in. This is why he turned to the police department in Leskovac and to the prosecution asking for control and examination of this case. Slavoljub, who now has two daughters with Snezana, says there is hope and that he is ready for DNA analysis. A. Davinic
The affair of baby thefts is, according to everything that happened, unexpectedly getting another, scandal flow. The statement of Milutin Manojlovic in the text "The truth in criminal accusations vortex", published in Ekspres on January 27, regarding the claim for the exclusion of public prosecutor Snezana Bogdanovic, as well as the whole County prosecution in Belgrade arose very severe reactions of parents who are searching for their supposedly stolen children. Only as a reminder, at the end of the last year several newspaper magazines published a sensational testimony of Milutin Manojlovic; His wife gave birth to twins-a boy and a girl- on May 5, 1979 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth Narodni Front. A day later the Manojlovic were told the girl died. More than two decades later Manojlovic launched the claim that he had irrefutable evidence that his child wasn't dead but taken, and that an organized group, in connection with doctors, which trades with those children was behind the whole thing. Manojlovic said that he had information that his daughter lived in the family Roganovic and that her name was Violeta. Beside being rather shocking, this story arose (un)expected reactions of hundreds of parents across Serbia who, for years, suspected their children were taken away. They doubted the children died after birth as they were told at maternity hospitals. In this way one case grew into an affair that shook the public and the highest government officials. A turn-over in the whole story appeared in December last year when the Second prosecution in Belgrade stated, based on DNA blood analysis of the Roganovic and Violeta, that Manojlovic's claims have no basis, that is the Roganovic are Violeta's biological parents. Manojlovic files a claim for the exclusion of the public prosecutor Snezana Bogdanovic and the whole prosecution due to their misuse of official positions and presenting the forged DNA analysis. Below the claim there are 107 signatures of the parents for whom Manojlovic, in his statement to Ekspres, said to have connected their accusations with his case and agreed to follow and support him.
Milutin Manojlovic marked her statement as an expression of fear. In the mean time other parents contacted "Ekspres" wanting to publicly announce that their signatures were also misused. There is no way they could establish that DNA analysis was forged.
Nada Otasevic, another alleged signer of Manojlovic's claim says for Ekspres that her signature was used without approval.
Radojka Pantelic, like women before her says that she didn't sign the claim but only the petition for alteration of the Law of family relationship.
- I am unpleasantly surprised that my signature is there - says a mother Ljiljana Kovandzic and adds that parents are fighting against the forging of documentation about their children and somebody from their group was allowed to counterfeit signatures - she emphasized. Under full material and criminal responsibility and without intimidation I claim that I have never signed the claim for the exclusion of the public prosecutor and that my signature was misused says Vesna Knezevic, the only doctor in the group of parents who look for their supposedly missing children. Radmila Bajcic
As they say, they expected this statement from the prosecution because "nobody thought that everything would finish fairly and easily".
My child, stranger's son From such a large number of "successfully completed investigations", up to now, about twenty parents can publicly announce where their daughters and sons, who suddenly "died" as babies many years ago, are. As suspicious parents demonstrate, Dejan, a son of Biljana and Caslav Momirovic from Dzigolj, lives with a family in a village Dobrujevac. Stana and Ivica Milojevic from Mozgov near Aleksinac got and then "lost" a son Stefan who now lives in a family in Aleksinac. Jova, "the lost" son of Olivera Stevanovic, a doctor from Zajecar, now lives in Mali Mokri Lug.
Vukadinka and Slavisa Pesic from Vrtiste near Nis got Malisa who, immediately after birth, became a son of a family from Nis. Verica and Milivoje Pesic from Vranje had a girl, who is now called Aleksandra and whose "paper" father died, but, before dying he confessed that the girl was taken from the maternity hospital. Aleksandra's "mother" confirmed the story to the Pesic. Grana and Dragan Stefan from Nis have a son Milos who lives with a "medical" family in Nis. Aleksandar and Vukica Stankovic, also from Nis, "lost" a son who is now called Bratislav Savic. When he read their story in the newspaper Bratislav came by himself and knocked on their door. The Italians helped
- We got more information from the Italians than from the people from here-said Damjan.
Jovica and Ljiljana Vuckovic from Belgrade called the "paper" parents of their son Milos for cooperation.
Mirjana and Momcilo Jeftic from Krusevac found their daughter after 30 years. She lived in Milutovac, the suburb of Kragujevac and after getting married she moved to the town. Milovan became Sigmund - I saw my daughter with my companion, a friend in trouble, Stole Vaskovic, who is also looking for his child. We were at the parents' gathering in Kragujevac where, as I found out, my lost daughter lives - Momcilo opened his heart. Rada and Stojan Veskovic from Vitanovac near Krusevac still haven't seen their supposedly dead son, but their story is for a novel. In 1990 Rada gave birth to identical twins, boys, and Stojan began treating everybody. However, his world turned over when he read on the discharge list that his older child, Milovan, died! And then, after 12 years, something that changed Stojan's life happened. "A trusty man" called him and said: "Your child was sold for good money, he lives there and there".
- He told me in details that my son was sold for 80.000 DM and after a few days he called again and said that the child was now 13 years old, that he lived in Linc and that his name was Sigmund - says Veskovic. - I wouldn't want to harm my Milovan in any way. I only want to baptize him and show him as my child in front of God, like our other children. To, at least, unite them in that way if there is no other. I would like to be able to say to my son Radovan proudly: "It's true son, I have found your brother Milovan!" Misa Ristovic
"Good day, I need one baby", a buyer comes and orders and a doctor delivers. A mother, who enabled this productive transaction, gets a tap on the shoulder by a doctor with words: "The baby is dead. It's nothing, you're young…and come again". This is the scenario by which, a well-organized group has sold children in Serbia for a few decades, as the parents, guided by Milutin Manojlovic, claim. He reached the focus of the public after the statement that he found his daughter Nikoleta (who supposedly died as a newborn baby) in the family Roganovic. About 700 families in Serbia struggle with the state to drive out the truth or the justice.
- Nobody called or informed me to give blood for analysis and the results are not to be published while the inquiry is on. The paper, which supposedly confirms that Roganovic is Nikoleta's father, hasn't been seen by anyone. I was accused of refusing to give blood, but I found out about everything from the newspaper, claims Milutin Manojlovic. He says that now another family has occurred (Mandzukic) who are convinced that another Roganovic's child is theirs. - Now Roganovic is going to run the second honorable circle with Mandzukic. He also did the DNA test and he also can't reach 99,999 per cent. So Sima's children have two spare fathers, says Manojlovic and adds that state officials, who consciously cover the organized children trade, are in the background of the matter. - If this one-sided analysis passes, the others would be a cliché. They would have blank analyses for everyone else. It is sad not to have trust in the ones you expect the help from, he thinks.
The alert of the parents in Serbia who are persistently looking for their children went over the boundaries of the state officials and the whole matter has reached Paul Miller, the deputy chief of the UN mission for human rights. S. M. P. - I. I.
Parents, who suspect their babies were falsely declared dead, and then sold to new families, continue their independent search, beside the fact that the Second court in Belgrade finds the affair of "the baby theft" finished. More than a hundred families from Serbia asked, because of that, for the exclusion of the public prosecutor Snezana Bogdanovic as well as the prosecution in Belgrade, with the explanation that the prosecution has made "one-sided coalition with the family Roganovic". Just to remind, some time ago, at the DNA lab of the Institute for forensic medicine in Belgrade, regarding the DNA analyses of Violeta, Sima and Slavica Roganovic, it is established that Slavica and Sima Roganovic are biological parents of Violeta Roganovic with the possibility larger than 99,999 per cent. However, Milutin and Radojka Manojlovic, a couple from Soko Banja, don't accept these results. They consider the results were forged and claim that Violeta is actually Nikoleta-their biological daughter. A son in Aleksinac
30-year-old Filipovic, private worker from Belgrade says that his baby was declared dead in 1988 while 40-year-old trader Jovica, also from Belgrade, claims that he has found his child-a son, who was declared dead in 1991. "From the documentation from the Center for social work I found out that my son was alive and was given to adoption to a family in a village near Aleksinac. His "paper" parents phoned me and invited me to visit them in their village for an agreement. I took the child's hair samples, I can't tell you how, and sent them to the DNA lab in Switzarlend. The analysis showed the boy was my son", says Vuckovic. He shows us a copy of the letter he sent to the "paper" parents. In the letter Vuckovic suggests they should find the best solution for the child by united efforts. Manojlovic, Vuckovic and Filipovic return to the case "Manojlovic", which started the affair of "the stolen babies" and remind that Violeta Roganovic came to Soko Banja with her sister Sandra on May 5, 2002. They were baptized at a church in that town, and some of the media attended the event. Hair samples "We came in possession of Sandra Roganovic's hair samples and sent them to one of the DNA labs abroad, as we suspected for a long time that Violeta and Sandra were adopted; that Violeta was my daughter Nikoleta and that Sandra was the daughter of the family Mandzukic from Krusevac. DNA results showed that Sandra Roganovic is really the daughter of Radomirka and Miroslav Mandzukic, taken from the hospital in Krusevac in 1980", say Manojlovic, Vuckovic and Filipovic. This story was, in the telephone conversation, confirmed by Miroslav Mandzukic, 40-year-old private contractor, stating that it is still early to discover what lab he is talking about. Based on the information they claim to be authentic, these people think there is a criminal organization in Serbia, so they asked the UN office for human rights in Belgrade to check the documentation in all the centers for social work in Serbia and Yugoslavia, as well as the information about the deceased children. According to some judgments, these independent detective researches of the parents who lost their children, could represent the eternal prolonging of the hope that their children could still be alive. A lot of details of conspiracy theory in this case are "heated" with the documentation from the hospital books, which wasn't completed on time, the archives of town halls and centers for social work, which was estimated by the special commission of the Serbian ministry of health. Snezana Bogdanovic, public prosecutor of the Second court in Belgrade, says, regarding the parents' claim for her exclusion, that they have every right to ask for that, but, also, that "the case Manojlovic" is finished for the prosecution; as well as the other cases where, after the investigation, it was found out that there was no doubt that any child theft happened. "In cases of obsoleteness of criminal pursuit, the claims were refused, but regardless of that all the checking has been done at the Town hall Savski venac, the hospitals and the Institute for neonatology. All the documentation has been sent to those people", says Bogdanovic. Molecular geneticist, Dr Oliver Stojkovic, the chief of the DNA lab at the Institute for forensic medicine in Belgrade, did the interpretation in the case of Roganovic. "As an interpreter in this case, I absolutely back the results, which say that Violeta Roganovic is a biological daughter of Sima and Slavica Roganovic". Dr Stojkovic, regarding the statement of the parents about sending the hair samples to DNA labs abroad, says those labs really exist in the world and that they can do DNA analyses based on samples sent by mail. "Those labs are not interested in who sent the samples. Unfortunately, those results don't have any value in court, which doesn't mean they are wrong. The law anticipates that the people, the samples are taken from, should be identified in front of the interpreter. The parents should now address the court and ask of it to take out the evidence those people reached by themselves. You have to respect the continuity of proven means; which indicates that in every moment we should know who is responsible for the biological material that is being interpreted", Dr Oliver Stojkovic points out. The DNA lab at the Institute for forensic medicine in Belgrade is considered to be one of the most contemporary in the world. It works, under the patronage of the International commission for the missing people, on the identification of about 40.000 people, who were lost in the inter-ethnic conflicts on the ground of former Yugoslavia. Aleksandar Apostolovski
The story of Manojlovic caused a reaction similar to an avalanche: hundreds of parents who have had the same doubts for years about their children, supposedly dead after birth, started to file complaints and give statements to the media. In a very short time they have established an informal organization. Last autumn they were accepted by the representatives of the state and republic government as well as the officials of various nongovernmental organizations that deal with human and children rights. "The case" of Manojlovic was the first that reached the judicial institutions: The Second prosecution in Belgrade opened the investigation and demanded the DNA test of Violeta Roganovic and her parents. In the prosecutor's report, after obtaining the results of DNA analyses, it is said that the Roganovic are undoubtedly the biological parents of Violeta. However, Manojlovic doesn't agree with the results and the whole story starts to get a new turn… About ten days ago, 170 parents, signed with the information from their ID, filed a claim for the exclusion of the public prosecutor Snezana Bogdanovic and District prosecution in Belgrade. They state, among other things, that the DNA results were forged. However, Vladislava Tubic, one of the parents who signed the claim, stated for "Ekspres" that she "didn't sign the claim to the Prosecution and if Manojlovic needs any support he should ask for it first". - All the parents who have connected their complaints with "the case of Manojlovic" agreed to follow and support the course of my legal proceeding, which isn't finished yet. I think that Tubic gave statements in fear, because the parents are intimidated by tendentious texts and interviews about the affair of "baby theft" - explains Milutin Manojlovic for "Ekspres".
- Speaking about a fortune-teller, Milica Novakovic probably had in mind Verica Dobrosavljevic, a person who was a witness of the baby theft at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Nis in 1979 during her stay at that maternity hospital on maintaining her pregnancy. She is the only lady in our group whose child isn't stolen but is kindly helping us in solving our cases - Milutin Manojlovic answers the statements of the chief of the Birth service Savski venac. Radmila Bajcic
Vladislava Tubic is one of 300 (some say 700) parents in Serbia who think their children didn't die after delivery, as they were told at maternity hospitals, but were stolen. Due to incomplete and, as she says, forged documentation she managed to obtain about her girl, who was born in 1980 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Visegradska Street, she doesn't believe her child is dead, but that she was taken away and sold. Vladislava filed criminal complaints against Zivana Glisic, birth official at the Town hall Savski Venac, Milica Novakovic, chief of the birth service at the same Town hall, Dr Ljubomir Lopicic, former chief of Neonatology of the Institute for gynecology in Visegradska Street and Dr S. Gligorovic, the chief doctor of the same Institute, for forging the documentation. At the end of the last year the Second prosecution started a research regarding her case and announced they would hire a graphologist who would try to explain who and when filled in the documentation of Vladislava and her child. - After the delivery I didn't receive anything except my discharge list and spoken information that the baby died on December 12, 1980, a day after birth. When, last year, I saw that my case wasn't the only one I decided to collect all the necessary documentation. I concluded that the document about the registration of baby's birth was forged because the information written in it didn't correspond with the real state of things, especially if you know that the form is filled in based on the parent's statement and I never gave any statement-emphasizes Vladislava and adds that the Prosecution was intrigued, beside with that document, with the registration of death of her girl. - The registration of death has to contain, according to the Law birth books, a name of the person or the institution that stated death, which hasn't been done in my case. In the column 1, the last name of the child was inaccurately written-instead of Ivanovic, my maiden name, which I had during the pregnancy, they wrote Tubic. Both my daughter and me wore bands around our arms, which said Ivanovic - said Vladislava and added that the column under number 6 of the same document also had wrong last habitat of her child, although the girl never left the clinic she was born in. According to her words, the wonders don't end there, because the column 8 contained the information that the deceased person was, in the time of death-married! In the registration of death there are no information about the place or the time of registration and it has to be there. Also, the confirmation was very unclearly signed by somebody but without the facsimile. On the back of the document it says that diagnosis that, allegedly, led to my child's death wasn't checked by postmortem, but the doctors were obliged to do that because the child was born in the 29th week of pregnancy - says Vladislava. She states that confirmation of death doesn't have completed note of birth official about the deceased child being, on account of the information from it, registered in the book of the deceased in the Town hall Savski venac, and under which number. Also, there is no seal and a signature of birth official, which have to be on this document - Vladislava explains. - Confirmation of my child's death was signed by chief Dr S. Gligorovic, who in 1980, when I gave birth, wasn't the chief of doctors, which can be easily checked at the Faculty of medicine - says Vladislava. R. Bajcic
BELGRADE (Tanjug) - Biological parents who suspect that their children were taken from them in maternities i falsely proclaimed dead proposet a motion for disqualification of public attorney and District attorney office in general on grounds of unscrupulous and biased attitude during procedure of establishing a parenthood. They asked for those cases to be carried out by Attorney general's office of Republic of Serbia. A stated in petition, signed bz 110 parents who think that their children were given to other families, in judicial procedure of establishing a parenthood false statement was given that Manojlovic couple refused DNA analysis. Judge Snežana Bogdanovic and attorney's office are accused of "biased coalition with Roganovic family" and for stating: "I can hardly wait for DNA analysis in favor of Roganovics, after which I will personally issue an arrtes warrant for Mr and mrs Manojlovic" . Parents added that they will bring witnesses on trial. Judge Bogdanovic and attorney's office also were also bound to bring face to face biological mothers and doctors od certain civil servants who never gave them adequate documentation for their newborns who were proclaimed dead. Instead, we were given doctored DNA analysis and with that the case was closed as far as attorney's office was concerned, parents claimed in their announcement for media. Group of biological parents also have sent to UN Human Rights Commission in Yugoslavia demand for revision of documentation in all social work centers in Serbia and for revision of data about dead children because they suspect, as stated earlier, that there has been various manipulations.
BELGRADE - The Second prosecution in Belgrade started the research about forging the official documents against John Doe, after the accusation of Vladislava Tubic from Belgrade, who claims that the documentation about her child's birth at the hospital in Visegradska Street contained several omissions. Research judge of the Second court in Belgrade, Rajko Ilic, has already listened to Vladislava, who emphasized that this was the only way to start the procedure, because her case, as well as many others, got "obsolete". As she stated, the research judge promised to try to find a documentation and, also, a graphologist would be included into the investigation in order to examine various mistakes in documentation. Vladislava gave birth to a girl on December 11, 1980 in Visegradska in Belgrade. During doctors' rounds she was told that the baby died and she was discharged after 48 hours. The discharge list was without a seal and signature and the date was altered. Two days after that a midwife appeared to see the baby and the mother!? Vladislava started her search this summer when the hospital's lawyer refused to see her lawyer and let him see the books by saying: "Lawyers revive deceased children." - I managed to find my child's disease history in the main hospital's archive. The fascicle was completely new. It contained several blood analyses one of which was done after the official death of the baby. There is no statement of death, except on the fascicle and it was written by hand, without a seal-Vladislava said on one of the meetings of "suspicious parents". When I saw that I went to the Town hall to ask for certificates: On December 24, 1980 the baby was registered as dead and on December 25 its birth was registered in books. You don't register a child first in the book of the dead and then in the book of birth. The personal number is false. I obtained a confirmation, from the Police department, that there was nobody under that number, neither alive nor dead. I require from the state to find my child. It's not my problem how they will do it. M. Ristovic
BELGRADE - Geneticist dr Oliver Stojkovic punched in a code on DNA lab entrance, placed in Forensics Institute of Belgrade Medical school. Very few people knows that code - prof dr Dušan Dunjic, head of Institute, dr Stojkovic, who teaches molecular genetics on Biology school of Belgrade University and DNA analyst Tatjana Varljen. Although top scientist, they are aware that in their job there is lot of investigative or security elements, just like in a movie "Virus", starring Dastin Hoffman, even though they do not work in biohazard gear and do not keep horrible germs. Prof Dunjic and dr Stojkovic recently did expert analysis in family Roganovic case, linked with stolen babies affair, as mentioned before. That sad case, which agitates Yugoslav public for some time, started with accusation of Mr and Mrs Manojlovic from Sokobanja that their newborn was pronounced dead and that after was "sold" to Simo and Slavica Roganovic Bloodstains
"It is ascertained beyound any doubt that Mr and Mrs Roganovic are biological parents of that girl and all further speculations lead would only further upset the public", said prof Dunjic, while dr Stojkovic takes for file documents about DNA analysis of Roganovic family, carried out on Nov. 29. in 10.00 am. Five drops of blood and four swabs from mouth cave was taken from Simo, Slavica and Violeta. We saw dried bloodstains on filter-paper, signed by Roganovics. This lab follows most up-to-date practises of DNA analysis, which allows it to analyse and identify great number of people in relatively short time. Lab was opened on Sept. 10. 2002, under auspices of UN, and its main goal is identification of about 40.000 persons missing in interethnical conflicts in former Yugoslavia. Experts of International organisation for missing persons are top scientists in that field. Imediately after terorist attacks of Sept. 11. 2001. dr Ed H., Director of Forensic Sciences Program, and Adnan Riznic from similar lab in Tuzla, were invited in New York to advise NYPD about DNA analysis. Contoversial lists
Because of DNA lab's reputation and great media interest in maternity hospitals scandal, II district attorney's office in Belgrade demanded for DNA analysis in Manojlovic- Roganovic case to be carried out in this lab. By the order of County court in Kuševac, this lab did another analysis pertaining stolen babies affair. Twenty years ago certain women from kruševac gave birht and the newborn after some time allegedly died. But, because of contradictions in data about baby's gender in hospital release list, PM certificate and birth certificate investigation took place. During PM of a baby hystopatological sample was taken and tjat allowed present DNA analysis and comparision with DNA pofile of parents. DNA ensures absolutely positive identification of every person. Because of that and this big affair prof Dunjic suggests for PM in cases of newborn death to become lawful obligation. Aleksandad Apostolovski
NIS - Mothers and fathers of "taken away" babies have recently appeared on a web site with a desperate appeal "give us back our children" and "help the parents whose children have been stolen, don't wait for the same thing to happen to you" Beside hundreds of newspaper articles, among which the numerous are from "Vecernje novosti", posters on this painful subject have appeared on the global network.
On this web site you can also read about the lives of 700 mothers becoming a nightmare. Due to strong doubts their babies were declared dead and sold right after their birth all the poor women have been living, for the last couple of months, the situations we could have only seen in the Latin American serials. Beside numerous warnings that paranoid thinking is very possible and that these painful situations don't have a happy ending the things that have recently happened to many of the mothers prove the opposite. Vera Vukomanovic, from the village Donja Sabatna near Kragujevac, one of the mothers who is searching for the destiny of the "taken away" babies, presented a few weeks ago that she has heard from the mediator of the family who adopted her son who was, according to the official documentation, born dead on May 12, 1987. This woman confirmed that the mediator pointed at the fact that the family who had adopted her son lived in Kragujevac and that they would meet very shortly. The mediator even said to her son "boy, you will soon see your brother." Do miracles still happen? Most people would say-very unlikely unless people who were involved in stealing and selling new born babies start to appear; or if the destiny alone doesn't arrange unexpected and shocking meetings between parents and their "dead" babies. Ljubinka Bubnjevic gave birth to two boys on March 20, 1980 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Novi Sad. As they were born with very small body weight and in the seventh month of pregnancy they were immediately transferred to the Children hospital. After only a day and a half the younger one "died". The older one, Milos, is now 22 years old.
Olgica Trajkovski from the village Jabuka near Pancevo gave birth to male twins on May 1, 1978. One of the sons "died" immediately while the other one is now a tough young sportsman. And then, last summer, at a soldier's farewell party she saw a young man who looked exactly like her son who has officially "died". -We spoke to each other, but I couldn't say anything about the matter-says Olgica. She filed a complaint against the hospital in Pancevo, for stealing the baby. The investigation began. Olgica is waiting for the government to legally return the boy to her and then she would tell him everything. On May 11, 1987 Valid Masad in the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Nis delivered Granu Stefan. The Palestinian doctor congratulated her on getting the healthy twins, first the girl, Marija, who is now 15 years old and then five minutes later, the boy. The next day she was told that the baby boy was dead. About six months after that she took her daughter out for a walk and came across the doctor who delivered her.
- I have and still do live in conviction that my child is alive. Also my son Radovan who was born as an identical twin with his brother, who was declared dead, shows that he misses his brother. I feel he would be much happier if he could play with his older twin Milovan. This name was assigned to him by his godfather-says Rada Vaskovic from the village Vitanovac near Krusevac. On February 27, 1990 at the maternity hospital in Krusevac Rada gave birth to two boys, identical twins. The older one weighed 3,350 and the younger 2,600 grams. Together with the crying of the babies the mother heard the doctors saying all is fine. When she was put in the room for women in childbed Dr Trena Strelarac told her that the babies were put in the incubator due to tiredness. The next morning, with the help of Dr Zdravko Jovanovic, Rada went to see her babies. They were fine, except for being tired-said the doctor smiling. She nursed them twice, with the instruction how to nurse two babies. During the night all the women in childbed went out to see why the babies were crying and one of the women in a dressing gown was running through the corridor saying "they are stealing the babies"-remembers Rada. The next morning, before the doctors' rounds, an unknown dark man wearing a brown jacket came into Rada's room. He said he worked as a porter and he came to see the woman who gave birth to such big twins. He addressed her by name and asked about the babies' health. And then came the worst. Dr Trena said: "Your baby has died" The doctor took the devastated woman to the doctors' room and comforted her by saying that the older boy died and that "it is better like this because the child would be mentally deranged". Rada's husband, Stojan, was later told that the boy had troubles with gullet. And, like in many other cases, they couldn't see and take the baby's body to bury it. They were told that the hospital buries the deceased babies.
Misa Ristovic
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SERBIAN SIMILAR CASES: INTERNATIONAL |
kradjabeba.org
Ljilja Vuckovic, an economist, and her husband Jovan, a trader, already had a 3-year-old Vukasin when, at the end of August 1991, she went to the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Visegradska in Belgrade for pregnancy maintenance. She lay there for almost two months and two more days after her water broke, until the delivery started in section 9, she still remembers everything in details.
But when the case of Nikoleta Manojlovic, or, officially, Violeta Roganovic, reached newspaper columns Ljilja and I agreed to eliminate our doubt, which we had kept deep inside us for years, once and for all. We started taking out the papers. Wherever we turned to we came across barriers-human, justified with administrative causes - says Jovica. - We were persistent; we tried various ways. As we reached new documents, instead of making things clearer everything got more complicated. We found ourselves in the maze of nonlogical information, forged signatures, incomplete documentation without signatures of authorized people and seals of the institution, which issued it. Our life turned around. It was hard to explain to Vukasin, Nikola and Jelena what was happening to their mom and dad; that they had a brother who lived somewhere and didn't even know they existed…
Vladimir, a son of Stana and Damjan Corbic from Lapatnica, lives in Kraljevo. He doesn't want to say to his "mother", who is now very old, that he knows everything. The Corbic have lived in Italy for a very long time and there they found the first leads toward their son who allegedly died 23 years ago at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth in Visegradska Street in Belgrade.
- I found and saw my son in village Norzina near Aleksinac, but we still haven't met each other - says Vuckovic.
I did two tests, one here, while everyone was sleeping and the other in Switzerland, only my results are more modest
- The media announced, without cover, that the DNA analysis has been done and that it has been confirmed that Roganovic is Nikoleta's father with "99,999 per cent and more". You can't find this anywhere on Earth. I did two tests, one here, while everyone was sleeping and the other in Switzerland; only my results are more modest - 98, 6 per cent. I can't reach "99,999 per cent and more" so I am Nikoleta's spare father - I have a silver medal. There is no certificate, nowhere in the world, which can confirm the blood relation of two people with 100 per cent certainty. It turns out that Nikoleta cloned herself, says he.
Other parents are also trying to reach the answer to the question if their children died during the delivery or immediately after it by DNA analysis: however, they took the samples of 77 children they consider to be theirs and sent their hair samples to DNA labs in Russia, Italy and Switzerland, Milutin Manojlovic, Goran Filipovic and Jovica Vuckovic confirm.
The affair that agitated the public in August last year returned to the beginning. Just to remind, at the end of the summer newspaper columns were filled with the frightening story of Milutin Manojlovic. His wife gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl - on May 5, 1979 at the Clinic for gynecology and childbirth "Narodni Front". She was told the girl died. Milutin claimed, in his statements to the media, that he had proof the girl didn't die but was taken away and that the organized group that deals with children trade was involved. He also claims that his daughter, who is now 24 years old, lives in the family Roganovic and that her name is Violeta.
Mr and mrs Manojlovic, who are unofficial activity coordinators among couple of hudreds Serbian families who believe that their babies were stolen, claim that Violeta Roganovic, young girl, is in fact their lost daughter Nikoleta. DNA alazsis was carried out on her to. Results said that Simo and Slavica Roganovic are Violeta's biological parents with probability of 99,9999 percent.
Mr and Mrs Manojlovic and other parents do not believe, though, in these results.
"Special computer software was designed for accidents victims data base search", said dr Stojkovic.