Sarajevo - The
case of the death of Sheikh Muammar Zukrlic, who is nicknamed "The Mufti" and one of the symbols of Muslims in the Balkans, has returned to the fore after his family recently issued a statement announcing their suspicions that he had been killed, following the announcement of his death in November 2021 due to He had a "heart attack".
Sheikh Zuckerlic spent his life defending the rights of the Muslim minority in the whole of Serbia, through his position as the mufti and head of the Islamic sheikhdom in the Sanjak region, which is a region in which the majority of its inhabitants are Muslim Bosniaks and divided between Serbia and Montenegro (1993-2016), or through the presidency of the "Justice Party" and reconciliation” which he founded, and entered the world of politics, through which he succeeded in entering parliament and becoming a deputy speaker of the Serbian Parliament.
Sheikh Zuckerlic was born in 1970 in the city of Toten, Serbia, and completed his secondary education at the Ghazi Khosrow Bey Secondary Religious School in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jinan, Tripoli, Lebanon.
Sheikh Muammar has two wives and 8 boys, 5 daughters and 3 sons, the eldest of whom is Osama, who took over the presidency of the Justice and Reconciliation Party after his father's death, and who is seen as his father's successor.
Al Jazeera Net met Osama Zuckerlich to learn all the details about his father's death, and the suspicions surrounding his murder.
Osama Zuckerlich (left) speaks to Al-Jazeera Net reporter (Al-Jazeera)
The following is the text of the interview:
What can you tell us about your father, and how he spent his life?
My father, may God have mercy on him, was just, firm, worked tirelessly, was far-sighted and looked forward to the future, and was afraid of the forbidden. He told me that in his youth, he served in the army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and for his fear of traces of lard in the food, he used to eat food He was only dry, which sometimes led him to spend several days subsisting on bread and water, and he told me that, once, he hadn't eaten for 3 days.
His colleagues and the officers in the camp were astonished, and warned him that his body would not bear, but he was patient.
He used to fast Ramadan, and he did not miss any prayer, although prayer was forbidden, at that time, in the army.
When circumstances did not permit, he would sit and open a newspaper as though he was reading, and prayed sitting dimly.
I think his patience and endurance helped him a lot in his later life in the mountainous Balkans.
My father, may God have mercy on him, was very busy and did not spend much of his time with us, so he left it to our mothers to raise us and teach us Islam.
He valued time highly, and was always in a hurry, as if he knew his life was short.
But in the short time he spent with us he was an exemplary father, and he made up for his constant absence.
He was keen to teach us the Arabic language.
At a time when children my age were watching animated films, my sisters and I were watching the news bulletin on Al Jazeera, to learn Arabic.
Why did you wait so long to request an autopsy?
When my father died, I was in Turkey, then I immediately returned to Serbia. I found that they had taken the body to our village in preparation for the funeral prayer and burial. I was surprised that the responsible authorities in Serbia did not take any legal measures;
The police did not attend, the body was not taken to the hospital, and no official report on the cause of death was issued.
I felt, and some close family members agreed with me, that the matter seems unnatural, so how do the state agencies deal, in this way, with the death of a person at this level, as you know, my father at his death was serving as Deputy Speaker of Parliament in Serbia, therefore, he is an official figure High level, and if we add to this his position among the Muslims of Serbia and the Balkans in general, it seems very strange.
We decided to investigate the matter quietly and very discreetly, we took several samples from the body, and sent them to one of the countries outside Serbia, and to be more sure, we sent the samples to two completely separate laboratories, and we hid it even from the people who carried the samples.
Funeral prayer for Sheikh Muammar Zukrlic in Sarajevo last year (Al-Jazeera)
How did the results of the analysis come?
The reports we received indicated the presence of traces of toxins in the tested samples, in particular, one of the laboratory reported that there is a high probability that the deceased was poisoned by heavy metals, while the other laboratory report stated that the death occurred due to food poisoning.
Then we immediately took the official procedures with the legal authorities in Serbia, to exhume the body and conduct an official autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Who are the enemies of the Mufti, or rather who has an interest in his death?
There are a lot of them.
He often talks about them;
Many gangsters, drug dealers, corrupt politicians, terrorists, traitors, etc., have small enemies as well as big enemies, powerful ones.
But we do not currently wish to accuse anyone.
We are interested in establishing the truth in a scientific, legal and forensic way, recognized by all legal bodies in Serbia and abroad, and then we decide on the next step.
Has any of the officials in the State of Serbia contacted you in this regard?
Yes, meetings were held with senior state officials, led by the Prosecutor General of Serbia, Mrs. Zagorka Dolovac.
I received assurances from everyone that state institutions would support all measures to reach the truth.
Why did you ask the state authorities to postpone the implementation of the court's decision to exhume and autopsy the body?
Because we want some time to bring in international experts to do all the procedures so that the whole process is done in the best and highest quality possible.
And so that no one has any doubts after the results are announced.
The whole issue is very sensitive and delicate, and I told some officials that this is an issue whose effects will extend for decades.
From which country did you request experts?
In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have requested the participation of experts from Germany and Turkey in this process.
Has a friend called you to offer you help?
Yes, if my father has many enemies, he has more friends, and a large number of friends from Serbia, Bosnia and several countries have contacted us, expressing their readiness to help in any way.
Despite the great sadness, but everyone is seeking to know the truth.
What parenting commandments do you feel obligated to fulfill?
Preserving the rights of Muslims, Bosniaks, and others, correcting historical grievances against the Sanjak people, and working on the reconciliation of Bosniaks and Serbs on the basis of achieving justice.