13 years since Jabukovac massacre: Ljubinka keeps looking at where her son and 9 others were killed

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"Nikola Radosavljevic does not deserve to be alive. If he went crazy, why didn't he hit his own head, instead of killing my son? And 8 more people... Why?"

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13 years after the massacre in Jabukovac, Ljubinka Badejevic, the mother of Branislav (31) whom Radosavljevic killed using a hunting rifle, asks this question every day.

On July 27, 2007, Radosavljevic shot dead nine of his neighbors and wounded two in the village of Jabukovac near Negotin. The monster killed Draginja (55) and her husband Branislav Borongic (57), Dragan Djordjevic (22) and his father Veljko and grandmother Marina, Branislav Badejevic (31), Srdjan Badzikic (15), Jelica Bankovic (37) and Anika Cogic (62). He was arrested the same night in the local cemetery. He was acquitted at the trial, while the judge ordered him to remain in "mandatory detention in a closed institution."

To this day, it has not been established why Radosavljevic started his bloody feast, whether he was obsessed by the idea of being under some spell, believing that this was the case. Neuropsychiatrists determined that one of the biggest mass murderers in the history of Serbia suffers from acute paranoid psychosis accompanied by a constant feeling of being threatened and thinking that someone wants to harm him. He has been placed behind bars at the Special Prison Hospital in Belgrade. However, that is no consolation for the families of the victims because their loved ones are no longer here, they are rotting underground, recalls the daily Blic.

It is even harder for Ljubinka and her husband Milutin because they are the only ones from the families of Nikola's victims who still live in Jabukovac, and every day they watch the place where their only son was killed. The closest relatives of the other victims have either died themselves or live in Germany, like the parents of Srdjan Badzikic, who was only 15 years old when he was killed by Radosavljevic.

"There is no one in the village this year. Because of coronavirus, families are not coming home from abroad, there is no one to lay flowers, light a candle. My daughter and I went to Bane (Branislav) in the cemetery. We always go a day before the family patron saint feast, and he was killed on the second day. I dream of him before every anniversary. This year he appeared to me in my dream, looking at the house. I told him, in the dream, that 'he's not there' and my son just replied, 'I see you'. I woke up in cold sweat," Ljubinka says in a shaky voice.

She is aware that nothing can bring back her on son, but she is trying to continue her life to some extent, because of her daughter and grandson. She works for a woman, helping her, so she can help her daughter's family, who are in Jabukovac, but also to keep herself busy.

"I have only them. Even if a person has ten children, and then loses one, it is difficult to get over. Not to mention when there are only two. I have not seen my son getting married, having children. And you know what? The children of that crimial continued their lives! The son married in Vienna, had a son of his own. His daughter got married, also in Austria, and she is some kind of boss there for our people from Jabukovac who work in Vienna. They went on with their lives, Nikola left someone behind. And he's fine there in the hospital, in prison, wherever he is. He eats, drinks, talks.. he doesn't care when he dies, because he has there is somebody to inherit him, his descendants. And there is nothing left for my son," says the unfortunate woman.

She hopes to experience and hear that the crimial who killed her son and ruined the life of the whole family has died.

"I am already of a certain age, and I don't know if I will live to see it. However, I can tell the person who will bury him not to bring him dead to Jabukovac," said the inconsolable mother of the murdered Branislav.

Nikola's father died, his mother is still in Jabukovac

"The crimial's father Petar died this year, winter or spring, I don't remember exactly. His mother Zora is still alive. She has a woman taking care of her. I see her in the street, she goes to the store. I turn my head away," says Ljubinka and adds that she does not see Nikola's children, but that she hears about them from the villagers of Jabukovac who live and work in Austria.

Another massacre shook Jabukovac

Unfortunately, Serbians remember Jabukovac for another massacre. Last August 7, Raja Kazimirovic (72), his mother Dragica (93), sister Ljubinka Oprikic (76) and her daughter Dragana Jozeljic (53) were killed at the Velja Vrasna farm. The bodies were found two days later. Locals Davor Pernic and Maja Badjikic are suspected of the crime. Pernic has been in custody since the end of August. The court has sent back the indictment against them to be supplemented, and requested additional expert examination.

Photo: MUP RS

(Telegraf.rs)