How Paul from California Learned About the Death of His Friend, the Prijedor Hero Doctor Eso

Paul Kareer from Castroville (California) met the Prijedor hero, doctor of otolaryngology Esad Sadiković, in the 1980s in American Samoa, and recently learned the truth about his brutal execution, writes the BH news agency Patria.

Paul was staying in Samoa with his wife, where they met, among others, Dr. Sadiković, who was a United Nations activist and a member of Doctors Without Borders.

According to Paul, Eso was destined for great things and had the ability to make something out of nothing. Their paths diverged, and Paul heard from others who had stayed with them in Samoa that Eso had left for Sweden due to the war destruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But that wasn't true; he stayed in his city. He was looking for a way to contact him.

Some said he was in Switzerland, others claimed he was in Denmark. Until one day he found out that Eso had been killed in Prijedor.

Paul searched for information about his friend on the internet, but as he says, he wished he hadn't. On a UN and Doctors Without Borders list, he found the name Dr. Esad Sadiković.

- I hoped he wasn't dead. I sent a letter and received a reply.

The reply stated that Dr. Esad was a hero, and all those who knew him said he did everything he could to help others in the Omarska camp where he was imprisoned.

- There was no more doubt; he was a hero, it was written in the past tense – Paul thought.

He received the next email from the Union of Citizens of the Municipality of Prijedor.

- Dr. Sadiković was more than a brave person. When the atrocities and genocide began in Prijedor in 1992, Eso tried to prevent killings. He was taken to the Omarska concentration camp where he tried to negotiate with the Serbs, but they accused him of being an extremist, and he was imprisoned with other educated Muslims. A few months later, they killed him. His body was found in one of the 70 mass graves. Survivors from Omarska recounted how Dr. Sadiković did not hesitate for a moment when someone needed help. One night, they took him away and brutally killed him. Today, Prijedor, or what remains of it, remembers Dr. Eso, where gatherings are organized in his honor – the reply read.

Paul spent the next 72 hours at his computer searching for information about his friend.

- I found 100 pages of court testimonies related to Eso. Survivors stated that he saved numerous lives in the camp and were grateful for everything he did – Paul wrote.

Paul is now an elementary school teacher in Castroville.

We remind you that Dr. Esad Sadiković was taken from the Omarska camp on August 5, 1992, and killed at the Hrastova glavica pit in the municipality of Sanski Most. He was 44 years old. He was buried in Prijedor on July 29, 2007. A book about Doctor Eso was written by Vehid Gunić in 2009, and the "Esad Sadiković" Foundation was also established.