(29 Jan 1996) Serbo-Croat/Nat
Prisoner number eight was on the last bus carrying prisoners freed Sunday by the Serbs in the Sarajevo region.
But it was the little prisoner's first day out in the outside world - after all the former inmate is just a 16-month-old baby.
Baby Damir Ferhatbegovic was conceived and born in a Serb prison in eastern Bosnia where his parents, Amir and Ifeta, first met.
The Serbs freed in total 72 Bosnian prisoners Sunday.
The Ferhatbegovic family was all smiles as they faced their future outside a prison cell.
And their baby was not crying - not surprising as it was his first day out of jail.
Little Damir and his parents, 22-year old Almir Ferhatbegovic and 26-year-old Ifeta Bajramovic, were among the 72 released Bosnian prisoners by Serbs.
The baby was conceived in Vlasenica prison where the mother, Ifeta, had been interred since 1993 and the father, Almir, since May 1992.
The "short-timer's" parents were outside frequently on forced labor detail, but the tot never saw the outside world - until today.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"They didn't harm my baby but I was forced to leave him every time I had to go to work. It is not that I didn't won't it but I didn't dare to say how I won't do it. He wasn't alone. A injured prisoner was with Damir but the baby is faster than he is"
SUPER CAPTION: Ifeta Bajramovic, released prisoner
Despite the days behind bars, often under the care of a wounded prisoner while Ifeta was away at work, little Damir appears healthy.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
(paraphrased)
"I fed Damir with milk powder from the UNHCR humanitarian aid packages"
SUPER CAPTION: Ifeta Bajramovic, released prisoner
The couple developed their romance in a common cell at the prison.
After discovering she was pregnant, Ifeta confided in a visiting delegate of the International Red Cross Committee who arranged for her to give birth in the Vlasenica hospital.
After three months there, mother and child were returned to the cell.
The family's dream of freedom finally came true this Sunday.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"They came to our cell and asked us if we were ready. Ready for what, was my question and then we heard that we will be released. I told them we didn't know about it and rushed to pack some of our things"
SUPER CAPTION: Ifeta, released prisoner
Little Damir and his parents have nobody in Sarajevo and they will spend at least their first few nights in freedom in a Sarajevo refugee camp.
They want to go to Tuzla where Almir's parents live, and then they'll worry about what to do next.
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