Babies Scandal

In  Serbia

“Abductions from the cradle”

MISA RISTOVIC LAUREATE   Journalist award for courage "Milan Pantic" for the year 2003 went to Misa Ristovic, a reporter of Vecernje Novosti. This major recognition … is given for the second time to commemorate the assassination of Vecernje Novosti Jagodina correspondent Milan Pantic...

They found children after 30 years

In their private investigations, as they claim, 110 parents have found their long ago stolen children
77 DNA analyses have been done in Italy, Switzerland and Russia and the information is being kept for "the real" trials

In the mean time, even beside numerous warnings that paranoid thinking was possible, that they were given a false hope and that these painful situations don't finish with happy ending, these parents can't be persuaded by nothing and nobody that well organized "baby mafia" didn't work in our country for years. Especially because, as they claim, 110 parents have found their long ago stolen children in their private investigations and 77 DNA analyses have been done in Italy, Switzerland and Russia, but the information is being kept for "the real" trials.

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.

Vera Nikodijevic from Aleksinac gave birth to a son Radojica who now lives with "paper" parents in Soko Banja. Slobodanka Kljajic from Opovo gave birth to Olivera who was named Natasa by her other "parents" and who is one of the two children of one family, "born" in the same way, because the same family has Nebojsa, the son of Olgica Trajkovski from Pancevo. Danica Dimitrijevic from Belgrade gave birth to a daughter for a "paper" family Krstic who live in New Belgrade. Vela and Spasoje Predojevic from Pazova got children Ivan and Milan whose last name today is Dudic. Ivanovic Slavica and Nenad from the region around Prokuplje have a child who is now called Ivica Filipovic and lives with a family in a village near Aleksinac.

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

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.

- We got more information from the Italians than from the people from here-said Damjan.
- We turned to "Channel 5", Italian TV that connects separated families. They offered to help us. In four days, we found out from them that, under the first birth number, there is information about the child up to 1983, and then the trail disappears. This means that my son is alive and not that he died in 1979. Since the birth number is lost I suppose that he was adopted that year. My wife was told that the documentation says that she gave birth to an illegitimate child and that she renounced him, which is not true. When the people from "Channel 5" wanted to continue the investigation they got banned from the Yugoslav embassy in Italy because our ambassador considered us to be a mafia.

Jovica and Ljiljana Vuckovic from Belgrade called the "paper" parents of their son Milos for cooperation.

- I found and saw my son in village Norzina near Aleksinac, but we still haven't met each other - says Vuckovic.
- I asked his "parents" to solve this big delicate problem together in the most painless way. However, as I didn't come across their understanding I chose the legal way in hope that people who are authorized for justice in this country will finally awake and react on the cries of us, unhappy parents, the victims of monstrous crimes.

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.
- There I saw my Jelena, that's her name, saw and froze from everything because she incredibly looked like my mother-in-law. I went to the address I found out, allegedly looking for an apartment. Jelena came out holding her child of about 7-8 months old.

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".
- One day a certain Nikola, who read our story in the newspapers, called me and said he could help and then he hung up - says Stojan.
- He called me again and said my son lived in Linc, he had been adopted by an Albanian man and a German woman who own a store near the "Siti" Hotel in this town. He said "the doctors would tell me the rest of the story".

After a week, a certain Dr Satman Janos from Subotica confirmed the same story to Veskovic. He said that during those years, he was in Krusevac, working on that exact case.
- 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 

NEW - SOON BOOK "BARTER OF TAKEN CHILDREN"  -  AUTHOR MISA RISTOVIC

Series of texts containing 14 continuations, called “Abductions from the cradle”,published to daily jorunal VECERNJE NOVOSTI Belgrade, exclusively elaborate the subject about the work of baby mafia, what has been kept in silence for the last 44 years in Serbia.   

Moving stories of many parents, who claim their babies were proclaimed dead after birth and then stolen from maternity hospitals and sold for the price of 150,000 to 2,5 million DM, show their tough struggle for one of essential human rights – parental right and return of the identity to their stolen daughters and sons. 

Thinking that every mother and father have the right to fight for the final truth about their child, no matter how harsh and hard it may be, I have published the confessions of the unhappy parents, with their suspicions, but also with their proofs that their children were taken from maternity hospitals. 

After publishing the serial, “the affair of baby thefts” was opened; the biggest one in Serbia after 1945 and the number of doubtful parents has reached over thousand of them who filed criminal complaints for abduction of their babies. Many investigations have been opened in authorized courts but haven’t been concluded so far. In the meantime, the parents, by themselves, started finding their allegedly deceased children in other families…  

According to the Orthodox Church not giving a deceased child to its mother, who carried it in her womb, is an act of inexplicable sacrilege of everything a human is supposed to be by God’s conception.

 – Every human being that comes to this world alive has the right to be baptized and buried decently and has the right to have a grave to rest in – said a priest father Rasa regarding the affair of suddenly died babies, which shook up Nis several years ago. – Modern age conditions deliveries at specialized institutions, maternity hospitals. Most of the staff that help women deliver their children to this world know that when there is, even the slightest, risk, which brings the survival of the child in question a, so called, “shortened” or “clinical” baptism can be performed. That ceremony is done over a living child and it takes only a few seconds.

However, if the baptism isn’t done, even beside that, deceased child has to be given back to its parents, before all to its mother, who carried it and brought it to this world.

– A deceased newborn has to be buried as a deceased human being, since every newborn is human, which means the icon of God – said father Rasa. – Postmortem is done with mother’s consent and after that a child is given to parents to decently bury it and to know the grave where it is going to rest after being in this world, no matter how short that stay may be. Not to bury a dead child means to sacrilege everything holy and human in this world. No body has the right and no body is allowed to deny that to deceased human being or to parents.