Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

The House Fata Didn't Build Tensions in the aftermath of the Bosnian war are exposed through a widow's fight against the state, police and church.

Fata Orlovic is a 70-year-old Bosnian widow. Hers is one of the most intriguing and dramatic war stories of modern times.

Fata's suffering reflects the plight of many Bosnian war refugees still fighting for justice.

Her hometown of Konjevic Polje was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces. Her family was separated and decimated in the fighting.

When she returned in 1999, her house had been occupied by an Orthodox priest and a church had been built on her front lawn.

Though the priest has left, the church remains.

She has been fighting to have the church removed ever since. She even won a court ruling agreeing that the church should be removed.

Fata's continued fight to get her land back has even seen her accused of disturbing the religious harmony of the area. She has been beaten and stabbed, and is constantly threatened.

Yet she fights on, determined to get justice or die trying.

Through her story, Al Jazeera presenter Sami Zeidan exposes the ongoing tensions in the aftermath of the Bosnian war.

Source: Al Jazeera