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 His painful quest is documented in "An Invisible Child's
Trap", the second documentary feature about Muhic, the son of a
Muslim Bosniak woman and a Bosnian Serb soldier who repeatedly
raped her during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
In Bosnian film-maker Semsudin Gegic's first film about Muhic in
2005, the boy became the first child to publicly speak out
against the stigma surrounding him and others like him in Bosnia
for having been conceived by rape during the war.
Premiered on Monday in the Muhic's hometown of Gorazde in
eastern Bosnia, the second documentary takes another unique step
in confronting the prejudice faced by these children as they
become young adults.
Muhic was abandoned by his mother, who gave birth having hidden
the pregnancy from her family. He only learned he was adopted
from schoolyard taunts when he was 10 -- a shock that triggered
a lasting identity crisis.
Around 100,000 people were killed during the Bosnian war between
Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats.
Between 25,000 and 30,000 women and girls are believed to have
been raped during the hostilities, according to the Sarajevo
University Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and
International Law, which produced the film.
Sixty-two Bosnians are recorded by the authorities as having
been born of wartime rape, according to a Bosnian association
for women raped in wartime called "Women - The Victims of War",
which has 25,000 members.
Most of the babies were left in orphanages where their origin
was concealed from them, which is they came to be known as
'invisible children', according to researchers into the
phenomenon of rapes during the war and their aftermath.
Muhic's biological father was tried and convicted of rape in
2007. He was later released on appeal, conditional on having to
meet Muhic if the child requested it.
Gegic saw potential for a follow-up to Muhic's story.
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"I promised him that we shall make the second movie in which we will
search for my biological parents," Muhic told Reuters.
"After he called me last year to ask about it, I first had to think
it through, to clear my mind to decide on such a major step that
means so much to me. But then I accepted."
The new documentary shows that when Muhic requests to meet his
father, his father fails to turn up and continues to avoid any
contact. Muhic's mother lives abroad with a new family and also
refuses to meet him.
"Alen Muhic is the first among thousands of invisible children who
was courageous enough to speak up," Gegic said.
"In all countries of the world, there are such children who are
removed from the society and public eye."
Muhic cried after the film was shown to a packed cinema in Gorazde,
where the audience gave him standing ovations. "It is so moving,"
said a women who gave her first name Arnela, choking in tears.
After announcing the film on Facebook, Muhic said he received an
outpouring of support from well-wishers, including women who were
raped, parents who adopted children with the same background as him,
and from children in orphanages, expressing their thanks for his
advice.
"The first film resulted in freeing my identity; this second film
was aimed at revealing who these people are, who is the man who
raped my mother and who is my mother," Muhic, a tall man who works
as a medical technician in the town hospital, said.
"For years, I have felt angry and ashamed but now I feel really at
peace. I have found the answers to many questions."
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Matt Robinson and Raissa
Kasolowsky)
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