The Bogujevci family includes five cousins who were aged 5 to 13 years in 1999 when medically evacuated to Manchester by the British Army. The children are the sole survivors of a massacre on March 28,1999, of women and children in Podujevë, Kosova, which took place the height of the Balkans ethnic cleansing campaign. Cousins, Genc, Lirie, Jehona, Fatos and Saranda, received multiple gunshot injuries and lost 8 members of their family including their mothers, grandmother and siblings and their close friends, the Duriqi family. The Manchester Peace Park is being created at the request of the Bogujevci children in their home town, Podujeva, the site of the massacre. The Bogujecvci children received the first International Anne Frank Award for Moral Courage in 2003, shortly after giving evidence against paramilitaries. MaK supported the cousins in Serbia and Canada, the first children to give evidence at a war crimes trial. This historic step was filmed by networked BBC in a documentary ‘Real Story‘.
Saranda, the oldest survivor, was identified by the world’s press post trial as ‘a symbol of justice’ opting, aged 18, to give her harrowing evidence in open court in Belgrade.
Saranda says, ‘The Manchester Peace Park is a living symbol of love we are receiving in the UK and a channel of hope for the future’.
Now artists, Saranda, Fatos and Jehona Bogujevci have presented their personal history, including their fight for justice, in the Prishtina and Tirana National Galleries: Bogujevci // Visual History.
In 2014, Saranda returned to Kosovo and is Director of Youth and Culture and Sport for the Municipality of the capital, Prishtina. After graduating, Fatos spent two very productive years in Kosova, working as Creative Lead at Ogilvy | Karrota. He and his sister, Jehona, are graphic designers, currently based in Manchester.
The Guardian: In Cold Blood
Bogujevci // Visual History: the survivors‘ artistic response to tragedy.
Album artwork for MaK’s ‘Ten’album. Jehona’s first commission since her graduation from Manchester Metropolitan University. Jehona also designed this website.
BBC Real Story: Bogujevci / Duriqi war crimes trial film
MaK Union Chapel: Saranda Bogujevci at Union Chapel concert
MaK on BBC Woman’s Hour: Children and War Crimes An account of the human rights work of MaK with the Bogujevci children is archived on the BBC1 Radio 4 Women’s Hour site (18.3.04)
